Sherrill targets Desi voters in final push before election

One week out from New Jersey’s gubernatorial election, recent polls show Democrat Mikie Sherrill leading Republican Jack Ciattarelli by 5 to 7 percent. 

While Sherrill has maintained a lead in polls throughout the summer, she still faces a tight race. President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Ciattarelli, New Jersey’s history of electing Republican governors, and rightward shifts in the state’s electorate could make for an upset on election night. 

In an effort to lock in her lead ahead of Nov. 4, the Sherrill campaign is doubling down on community-based outreach, including that to South Asian voters. 

“From speaking with small business owners on Oak Tree Road to rallying with voters in India Square, Mikie is going everywhere and meeting with voters,” Rajan Srinivasan, a spokesperson for the Sherrill campaign, said in a statement to Central Desi.

Srinivasan said Sherrill is running in opposition to Trump-endorsed Ciattarelli, with a focus on increasing affordability in New Jersey, especially for small business owners. 

Parul Khemka, chair of the New Jersey Democratic Party’s South Asian American Caucus, told Central Desi that Desi voters have become increasingly wary over the past year of how Trump’s policies will affect their day-to-day lives.

“There is certainly some regret because a lot of South Asians are small business owners. They're getting really hurt by the tariffs,” she said. “And the H-1B visa has been the way many of us have entered [the United States].”

A recent AAPI Data survey found that the percentage of Indian adults who approve of Trump's handling of the economy decreased from 27 percent in March to 18 percent in September. The percentage who approve of Trump’s handling of immigration went down from 45 percent to 26 percent. The survey does not parse data for South Asian Americans overall. 

Madhuri Mukherjee, a Montclair resident, told Central Desi that she plans to vote for Sherrill in the election to avoid advancing Trump’s policies in New Jersey. 

“Right now, what draws me to [Sherrill] is that she is the candidate of my party,” she said. “And I'm not a die-hard Democrat voter. I would vote for a Republican if there was a Republican who was reasonable, but Ciattarelli is obviously a kind of rubber stamp for Donald Trump.”

Trump’s unpopularity makes Sherrill the only viable gubernatorial candidate for some Desi voters. However, this has caused concern among South Asian progressives who hope the Democrat will commit to passing more left-leaning policies.

This issue explores how the Sherrill campaign is engaging with South Asian voters in New Jersey and the current mood among her supporters. A previous issue covered the Ciattarelli campaign and its efforts.

Apprehensions about Sherrill's centrism

Just four months ago, Sherrill was one of six Democrats vying to be the party’s candidate for governor. 

Up against long-time New Jersey politicians including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Congressman Josh Gottheimer, Sherrill positioned herself as a centrist who could defend Democratic values and appeal to more conservative voters.

After nabbing the party nomination with 34 percent of votes, Sherrill has continued this positioning. In an interview with Insider NJ, Vin Gopal, state senator and chair of the Sherrill campaign, said she is an independent candidate who can break away from party lines.

“Phil Murphy was just a much more liberal candidate than Sherrill. He campaigned on that liberalism. He had Bernie Sanders come down at the end of his last campaign, and he really ran to the left,” he said. “That's not what Mikie has done in her six years in Congress.”

Sherrill has attempted to build a “big tent” coalition of moderate and left-leaning Democratic voters, but some New Jersey progressives — including Desis —  feel apprehensive about the direction she may take the state. 

Lavanya Raghavan is a Glen Ridge resident and community organizer who plans to vote for Sherrill on Nov. 4. Still, she told Central Desi she worries the Sherrill campaign has not done enough outreach to progressive voters and advocacy groups.

“Right now, what we are hearing and what we are seeing is not making us super excited. There's a definite enthusiasm deficit for Mikie,” she said. “What I see is a fear of Jack Ciattarelli.”

Raghavan said South Asian progressives want Sherrill to engage more with New Jersey’s Palestinian and Muslim communities and clarify her stance on the Immigration Trust Act. If passed, the legislation would limit when public agencies, including the police, can collect information about immigration status from New Jersey residents and whether they can share it with federal immigration authorities. 

The AAPI Data survey found that 76 percent of Indian adults strongly or somewhat oppose large-scale immigration enforcement operations in neighborhoods with high populations of immigrants.

The survey also found that 38 percent of Indian adults view the conflict between Israel and Palestine as extremely or very important, with the population being more likely to sympathize with Palestinians. 

Raghavan said candidates such as Fulop and Baraka were more vocal on these issues in the Democratic primary. Fulop, in particular, had strong backing from Asian Americans, especially South Asian and Muslim communities, she said.

Mukherjee said she initially supported Fulop in the primary after learning about his experience and policies, including his support for the Immigration Trust Act. She said she hopes Sherrill will support its passage if elected to office.

Since the Democratic primary, both Baraka and Fulop have indicated support for the party nominee, with the former endorsing Sherrill in September and the latter saying it’s important that “a Democrat gets elected in November.”

Raghavan said another factor that pushed South Asians toward Fulop in the primary was his connection to Jersey City, which has large South Asian, Muslim American, and Arab American populations.

Gopal told Central Desi that Sherrill is building on her own relationships with South Asian voters in New Jersey's 11th congressional district, which she has represented since 2019. 

“[Sherrill] represents a big South Asian community,” he said. “I think she's continuing to build relations.”

Trina Mallik is a resident of Madison, a borough in Morris County, and one of Sherrill’s constituents. An environmental lobbyist by trade, Mallik told Central Desi she has supported Sherrill since before she won her congressional seat in 2018. 

“I've been to a lot of her town halls. I've met her personally. I think she is so emblematic of representative government,” she said. “I don't agree with everything she votes on or [all] her stances on issues, but when I ask her [and] other constituents ask [her], she gives very clear, thoughtful answers.”

Desi voter turnout a concern

As divisive as this year's election has been, leaders in both parties agree on one thing: Not enough South Asians vote. 

Priti Pandya-Patel, the Ciattarelli campaign’s South Asian community liaison, told Central Desi that while South Asian voters participate in campaign events and fundraisers, there needs to be a larger push to get them to cast their ballot.

“I don't think that the awareness is there, so it is going to be important that we focus on voting in the South Asian media — to just tell people to go out to vote,” she said. “The second is that people just don't think it's important enough to vote.”

Arun Bantval, a Plainsboro resident, told Central Desi that through his conversations with Desi voters, he has learned that many of them do not participate in non-presidential elections, especially at the state or municipal level. 

A January 2024 report from the University of Southern California’s Center for Inclusive Democracy found that Asian Americans’ eligible voter turnout in New Jersey was between 60 and 67.6 percent during the 2020 presidential election. However, during the 2022 midterms, turnout dropped to between 22 and 30.9 percent — which is typical across demographics.

“We have some tabling events where these are voter registration drives. These are non-partisan voter registration drives, and many people of South Asian origin will walk by and pretend they're not even seeing us sitting there,” Bantval said. 

Mallik said older Desis, including those who immigrated to the U.S. decades ago, may worry that voting could “ruffle feathers.” She said programs that drive civic participation for the South Asian community can help Desi voters navigate the process. 

“It could be very overwhelming when you're really just trying to put food on the table for your family, and you don't want to make a wrong vote because it is a big responsibility,” Mallik said. “I think that's why all these initiatives for the South Asian community are great, so there is more personal engagement and distilling of the issues and who's actually standing for what.”

This story is part of the NJ 2025 Reporting Fellowship, in collaboration with 15 local and community news organizations, the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, and NJ Spotlight News. The stories in this collaboration focus on immigration, education, healthcare, the economy, and the environment from the perspectives of diverse communities in New Jersey.

Astha Lakhankar is a freelance reporter for Central Desi. While at Rutgers University, she served as managing editor of the student-run newspaper, The Daily Targum.

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