House Democrats called for an investigation into the release of Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-N.J.) military records on Thursday, following reports that her personal information was errantly distributed.
The ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), called the release of the record a “stunning failure” to protect the privacy of a veteran and member of Congress. In a letter shared first with POLITICO, he called for an investigation of what he called an “illegal and likely politically motivated disclosure.”
“This raises serious questions about whether NARA, currently headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, released the comprehensive record in a politically motivated effort to aid Rep. Sherrill’s gubernatorial opponent,” the Californian wrote in a Wednesday letter to the archives’ acting inspector general, William Brown.
CBS News reported earlier Thursday that the National Personnel Records Center, a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, released improperly redacted personnel files that included the New Jersey representative’s social security number, among other private information about her military service.
Sherrill is running in November for governor.
Garcia’s letter follows similar calls from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the highest ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, earlier in the day. The entire New Jersey Democratic delegation also called for an investigation, writing in a letter to the chairs of the Armed Services, Oversight and Veterans’ Affairs Committees that “under no circumstances should any veteran who answered the call of duty to serve our country have to worry about their sensitive military records being leaked and used as part of a political smear campaign.”
In response to the breach, Sherrill’s campaign sent cease and desist letters to the National Archives and Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign on Thursday. It also sent cease and desist letters to Ciattarelli chief strategist Chris Russell and Nicholas De Gregorio, who Sherrill’s campaign described as “an agent of the campaign working at the direction of” Russell.
The National Personnel Records Center conceded in a statement that the technician who handled the records request did not follow procedures and said the NPRC has contacted Sherrill’s congressional office, the Department of the Navy and NARA’s Office of the Inspector General about the breach.
In a Thursday afternoon statement, Sherrill campaign spokesperson Sean Higgins called the breach “a breathtaking, disturbing leak that must be thoroughly investigated.”
“Once again, the Trump administration is targeting political opponents with an absolute disregard for the law, this time in concert with the Ciattarelli campaign,” Higgins said. “We are calling on Jack Ciattarelli and the Trump administration to immediately stop illegally distributing Mikie Sherrill’s military files, with protected personal information like her Social Security Number, and we will explore appropriate legal action.”
Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also weighed in on Thursday, accusing Ciattarelli of “a desperate attempt to smear her military record.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ciattarelli’s campaign seized on the release to accuse Sherrill of being implicated in “the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy.” Sherrill did not walk at her 1994 graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, CBS News reported, after failing to report several of her classmates who cheated on an electrical engineering exam. Sherrill still graduated on time and served for years in the Navy without incident, her campaign said.
“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,” Ciattarelli campaign manager Eric Arpert said in a statement. “The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency.”
Jeffries called Sherrill “a patriot and a hero” during a Thursday afternoon press conference at the U.S. Capitol, lauding her record as a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, a federal prosecutor and member of Congress.
“It’s outrageous that Donald Trump and his administration and political hacks connected to them continue to violate the law, and they will be held accountable,” Jeffries said.
House Republicans launched an investigation into similar releases of military records belonging to several GOP House members and congressional candidates, including Reps. Don Bacon and Zach Nunn, in 2023.
In a statement to POLITICO, Bacon said “The cheating scandal can be a legitimate topic in the campaign, but the military must do better to protect veterans’ records.”
Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Mike Rogers (R-Al.), the chairs of the House Oversight and Armed Services Committee, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Nunn.
This is the latest fight in the high-stakes race between Sherrill and Ciattarelli, one of only two gubernatorial races nationally this year. Republicans are looking to flip control of the state, where Trump made unexpected gains in 2024, while Democrats are attempting to hold onto the governorship for a third term in a row, which has not been done in decades.
Sherrill is seen as having the advantage in the Democratic-leaning state, though recent polling has showed her either with a single-digit lead or statistically tied with Ciattarelli, who has run for governor unsuccessfully twice before.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.