Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill cannot seem to shake the issues that she’s created for herself.

And yes, these are issues completely of her own making. We have already covered her rank misrepresentation and the cheating scandal that kept her from walking at graduation at Annapolis. Now, Sherrill is trying to spin her way out of new problems – her increasing wealth while in office, and her children’s education.

First, the money. Apparently, Sherrill and her husband, Jason Hedberg, have done very well in the stock market and real estate market. And make no doubt about it – they are quite rich, and got that way while Sherrill has been in Congress.

Most of Sherrill’s fortune stems from her banker husband, Jason Hedberg.

Hedberg gets partially compensated through stocks from UBS, which they frequently sell off, according to financial disclosures.

He has raked in more than $2.6 million each year since 2021 — topping out at $2.9 million last year. For comparison, Sherrill’s congressional salary is $174,000.

Sherrill and her husband also own three homes: a large mansion in wealthy Montclair, a vacation home in Vermont, and the Washington, DC, townhouse.

Zillow records indicate that her Montclair home is worth about $3 million, her vacation home is about $780,000, and her DC home, which she once rented to former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), was pegged at $1.6 million.

Mikie Sherrill and Jason Hedberg are well on their way to being the next Nancy and Paul Pelosi, it seems. Sherrill has had to pay fines because she “forgot” to report those stock sales in the past – something that happens on both sides of the political aisle in Congress.

In 2019, Sherrill’s net worth would’ve been between $730,000 and $4.3 million, per her House financial disclosure records. By 2024, it jumped to between $4.8 million and $14 million.

Additionally, that analysis looked at all her assets, not just stocks. And a key reason why her net worth jumped so sharply in that analysis is that she added a Washington, DC, townhouse, purchased in a tony neighborhood in 2021 for $1.5 million.

As Ciattarelli noted, Sherrill was forced to pay a $400 fee in 2021 for STOCK Act violations, after blowing past a 45-day deadline to disclose her husband’s stock trades — something that is not uncommon in Congress.

Now, Ciattarelli himself is quite wealthy as well, but he opened up his tax records for local media.

Following pressure from Sherrill’s allies to release more of his tax documentation, the Ciattarelli campaign let media outlets examine 13 years of his tax returns.

While his net worth isn’t fully clear, tax records show that he has raked in close to $14.9 million since 2012 and paid at least $4 million in taxes, the New Jersey Monitor reported.

Maybe Sherrill could ride out the questions about her growing wealth. The charge of privilege and nepotism is going to be much, MUCH harder to dodge.

The Democratic congresswoman’s office announced in June that her two kids, Lincoln and Margaret Hedberg, were among nine students from her district to land spots in the Naval Academy, which has an admission rate of 9%.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and former interim Sen. George Helmy (D-NJ) each nominated one of the two children, The Post has learned. Members of Congress “can have five constituents attending the Naval Academy at any time” and typically nominate 15 candidates for each vacant spot with the option of naming a principal nominee, according to the academy.

What are the odds that both New Jersey senators (at that time) were willing to nominate their fellow New Jersey Democrat’s kids to the Naval Academy, Mommy’s alma mater?

Sherrill insists that everything was done aboveboard.

“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 said in a statement to The Post.

“Instead, they applied to the offices of the US senators from New Jersey, who also run academy nomination processes each year, and I am proud that they each earned nominations on their own.”

It is unclear whether Booker or Helmy made either of Sherrill’s children their principal nominee or if the congresswoman played any role in trying to lobby on their behalf.

Oh, so SHE didn’t nominate them because that would have looked like a conflict of interest! Wow, what a concession to the optics! And we’re supposed to believe that her kids TOTALLY did this all on their own, without Booker or Helmy knowing EXACTLY who they were? Suuuuuure.

It seems the voters are starting to wonder if Mikie Sherrill is really the best that they can do. The race between herself and Jack Ciattarelli is tightening up. The Fox News poll has her with an 8 point lead, a signficant decrease for her.

Other polls are showing that it is even tighter.
https://twitter.com/QuantusInsights/status/1973130392673853891
And remember, the polls in 2021, where Ciattarelli nearly upset current Governor Phil Murphy, had the race nowhere near that close.
https://twitter.com/Lawlorbrendans/status/1973085831477731368
This race looks to be highly competitive and will be a slugfest for the next month. Could Ciattarelli eke out a win over Sherrill? We shall have to see if the people of New Jersey are going to demand answers from the Sherrill campaign – and how good the Ciattarelli campaign is about making hay from these issues.

Featured image: Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, official Congressional portrait, cropped, public domain