New Jersey Democrat gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill was blocked from walking with her graduating class at the United States Naval Academy over her alleged involvement in a “cheating scandal,” according to a report.
Sherrill’s name was absent from “a copy” of the U.S. Naval Academy’s commencement program from May 1994, which the New Jersey Globe obtained. The congresswoman explained that while she was not allowed to “walk” with her graduating class for having failed to “turn in some of” her classmates over a cheating scandal in which students “obtained and shared” exam answers in December 1992, she still graduated.
“I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly ten years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” Sherrill explained.
Per the outlet, “The scandal revolved around electrical engineering exam answers that some midshipmen obtained and shared with their classmates in December 1992.”:
The scandal revolved around electrical engineering exam answers that some midshipmen obtained and shared with their classmates in December 1992. Two dozen of Sherrill’s classmates were expelled, and one of those involved said in 2002 that he thought more than 400 out of the 663 midshipmen who took the exam had seen copies of it in advance.
The events struck at the heart of Annapolis’s honor code, sparking congressional hearings and internal investigation; the resignation of Rear Adm. Thomas C. Lynch, the superintendent at Annapolis; and widespread debate over whether the institution had been too lenient in past cases of misconduct. The academy subsequently undertook significant reforms to strengthen its academic integrity system and restore public trust.
In response to the report, New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli criticized Sherrill for having “built her entire political brand around her time” at the U.S. Naval Academy and her service in the U.S. Navy, while also “concealing her involvement in the scandal.”
“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,” Ciattarelli wrote in a post on X. “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.”
In response to the scandal, Sherrill criticized Ciattarelli for trying to “use any avenue he can to execute the MAGA playbook of smearing military service.”
“Now, his latest attempt is to go after a 30-year-old widely reported incident when I was an undergraduate at the Naval Academy,” Sherrill stated.
The report from the outlet comes as an Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey found that Sherrill and Ciattarelli were tied in support from voters, ahead of the November gubernatorial election.
The survey, which was conducted between September 22-23, 2025, of 935 somewhat/very likely voters in the state, found that both Sherrill and Ciattarelli received 43 percent of support. Eleven percent of voters were undecided, while three percent of voters said they would vote for someone else.
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