Democrat In NJ Gov Race Blocked From Graduation Ceremony Amid Naval Academy Cheating Probe

The Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor was prohibited from walking in her 1994 Naval Academy graduation ceremony after a massive exam cheating scandal, the New Jersey Globe reported Thursday.

Democratic New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is her party’s nominee for governor of New Jersey, told the Globe that she was barred from the commencement ceremony because she failed to turn in some of her classmates who participated in the 1994 U.S. Naval Academy cheating scandal. A copy of the commencement program for the 1994 school year did not include Sherrill’s name, according to the Globe.

Her involvement in the scandal did not significantly interrupt her career, graduating from the academy and being assigned to Annapolis shortly after. The Sherrill campaign also denied the New Jersey Globe’s request to further investigate her disciplinary records, which only she has the authority to disclose.

“Today’s admission by Congresswoman Sherrill that she was implicated in, and punished for, her involvement in the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy is both stunning and deeply disturbing,” Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli said on X regarding the globe report. “For eight years, Mikie Sherrill has built her entire political brand around her time at the Naval Academy and in the Navy, all the while concealing her involvement in the scandal and her punishment. The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency.”

Ciattarelli has closed the polling gap considerably in the race, with an Emerson survey published