New Jersey’s political landscape has been jolted by a controversy that’s as personal as it is political. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor and a sitting congresswoman, is facing pointed allegations of nepotism after two of her children were accepted into the highly selective U.S. Naval Academy this summer. The episode has ignited a fierce debate about privilege, transparency, and the integrity of the admissions process, all unfolding as Sherrill’s campaign navigates a razor-thin gubernatorial race.
The story began in June 2025, when Sherrill’s office issued a press release celebrating the admission of 24 students from her NJ-11 district to various military academies. Among those listed were Lincoln and Margaret Hedberg—Sherrill’s children, though the release didn’t mention their relationship to her. Their names appeared with their father’s surname, and neither was present in the group photo that accompanied the announcement. According to Fox News, this omission fueled suspicions on social media and among Sherrill’s critics, who quickly seized on the lack of disclosure as evidence of potential impropriety.
It didn’t take long for social media to erupt. Right-wing accounts and commentators questioned how two siblings from the same family could gain admission to one of the nation’s most competitive institutions in the same year, especially when the U.S. Naval Academy boasts an acceptance rate of just 9%. “Mikie Sherrill’s two kids are at the Naval Academy, one of the hardest schools to get into, because of her nepotism,” wrote Rasmussen pollster Mark Mitchell on X, according to Fox News. Another commentator, Jennifer Jean Miller, added, “Far left politicians like Mikie Sherrill like to virtue signal about privilege…yet have no problem exerting their own privilege. How did Mikie Sherrill’s two kids get into the Naval Academy? Did two other deserving students miss out because of her nepotism?”
The scrutiny intensified as reports surfaced that only 22 students from NJ-11 were admitted to military academies this season, with just nine heading to the Naval Academy. The timing couldn’t have been worse for Sherrill, whose campaign was already reeling from renewed attention to her own past at the Academy—specifically, her involvement in a 1994 cheating scandal that led to her being barred from walking at graduation. According to The New York Post and Fox News, Sherrill has acknowledged refusing to cooperate with an inquiry into the scandal, which also implicated her now-husband, Jason Hedberg. Both ultimately graduated and served as Navy officers, but the episode remains a cloud over her public service narrative.
In response to the nepotism allegations, Sherrill’s office was adamant: she did not participate in the nomination process for her own children. “In order to remove even the appearance of a conflict of interest, my children did not compete in my office’s service academy nomination process,” Sherrill told Fox News Digital. “Instead, they applied to the offices of the U.S. Senators from New Jersey, who also run academy nomination processes each year, and I am proud that they each earned nominations on their own.”
The facts appear to back her up. Both Lincoln and Margaret Hedberg received nominations from New Jersey’s U.S. Senators—Cory Booker and former interim Senator George Helmy, respectively. Booker’s office confirmed to Fox News that he nominated one of Sherrill’s children, emphasizing the rigorous and merit-based nature of the process: “Prospective candidates go through an extensive application and screening process with service members and academy volunteers to recommend the best candidates to the academy based on merit. The candidates put forth for each academy represent the best and brightest that New Jersey has to offer.”
Yet, the questions linger. Under federal law (10 U.S.C. § 8454), members of Congress can nominate up to 15 candidates for each available vacancy at the Naval Academy, but only five constituents from each district may be enrolled at any given time. While nominations are necessary, the final admissions decisions rest with the Academy, which also assesses academic, physical, and medical qualifications. Still, the optics of two children from a prominent politician’s family securing spots in the same year have proven difficult for Sherrill to shake.
Her campaign’s communications director, Sean Higgins, has called the scrutiny a “depraved attack,” suggesting that the focus on Sherrill’s family is a sign of desperation from her opponents. “The Trump administration, in concert with the Ciattarelli campaign, released Mikie Sherrill’s unredacted service records—including her Social Security number and parents’ address—and now is desperately doubling down by attacking Mikie’s husband and kids,” Higgins told Fox News Digital. “It’s despicable, wrong, and underscores just how unfit Jack Ciattarelli is to be governor.”
Jack Ciattarelli, Sherrill’s Republican opponent, hasn’t missed the chance to capitalize on the controversy. He’s called for Sherrill to release her full Naval Academy disciplinary records, arguing that voters deserve transparency about why she was barred from attending her graduation ceremony. “What we learned today is that she was part of it in some way, shape or form. Come clean, release the records. Tell us what’s in your disciplinary records. I think the people of New Jersey deserve that,” Ciattarelli said on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
Sherrill’s supporters, meanwhile, have pushed back. Several parents of new midshipmen have defended her, with one mother telling The New York Post that her own daughter had to pass through the Navy Preparatory Program before being accepted, highlighting the rigorous standards applied to all candidates. Sherrill herself has pointed to her nearly ten years of service as a Navy officer and her subsequent career as a federal prosecutor as evidence of her commitment to public service and integrity.
The controversy has become a central issue in the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial race, which is shaping up to be one of the closest in recent memory. According to an Emerson College/PIX11/The Hill poll conducted in late September, Sherrill and Ciattarelli are locked in a dead heat, each with 43% support and 11% of voters undecided. Republican mail-in ballot returns are up nine points compared to this stage in 2024, signaling a potentially tight finish in a state where Democrats have long held the upper hand.
Against this backdrop, the debate over nepotism, privilege, and transparency is likely to persist. As both campaigns prepare for their final debate, voters are left to weigh the significance of the allegations—and the responses—against the broader stakes of the election. For Sherrill, the challenge is clear: to convince New Jerseyans that her children’s achievements were earned, not handed down, and that her own record, blemishes and all, stands up to scrutiny.
With the election just weeks away, the outcome may hinge on whether voters see the controversy as a legitimate concern or a political sideshow. Either way, the episode has cast a spotlight on the intersection of personal ambition, public service, and the enduring question of who gets ahead—and why—in American politics.
