New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is calling on Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell to step down after a 61-page independent investigation concluded he sexually harassed a female aide and violated state ethics rules.
Sherrill issued the demand Thursday evening, giving Caldwell, the running mate she personally selected just over a year ago, until the following day to submit his resignation. The move came hours after the release of a damning report authored by the law firm Lowenstein Sandler and led by former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino, who found that Caldwell's conduct "constituted sexual harassment and was derogatory or demeaning," the New York Post reported.
The report laid out a pattern of behavior that extended well beyond a single incident, from an alleged crude remark to a female staffer, to an attempt to secure a government promotion for his girlfriend using his state email account, to freeloading at official events with personal guests on the taxpayer's dime.
The investigation traced the earliest flagged incident to April 2026, when Caldwell attended an official event and allegedly hit on a staffer's younger friend. After being rejected, the 66-year-old lieutenant governor allegedly turned to a female aide in his state vehicle and told her, "you young women are looking for young sperm." Caldwell's attorney, Thomas Calcagni, denied that his client made the comment.
That incident was far from the only finding. Investigators concluded that Caldwell had tasked a staffer with finding him a "first lady", described in the report as connected to "a potential candidacy for Governor." When the staffer declined to play matchmaker, Caldwell grew "pushy," the report stated.
Sherrill first chose Caldwell as her running mate in July 2025, praising him in terms that now read as deeply unfortunate. She called him "a voice for the voiceless" and celebrated his parents' history marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. The two went on to defeat Republican Jack Ciattarelli and were sworn in roughly seven months before the scandal broke into public view.
Sherrill's administration has already faced sharp criticism over its handling of thousands of ineligible voters on New Jersey's rolls, and the Caldwell episode now adds a second front of political vulnerability for a governor who has staked her brand on accountability.
Perhaps the most brazen finding in the report involved Caldwell's use of his official state email to recommend his girlfriend, a government employee he publicly referred to only as a "friend", for a "senior leadership position" at a state agency. He did this less than a month after being "admonished and trained" in workplace conduct and ethics, and just four days after being formally notified that the investigation into his behavior was underway.
The report was blunt: by "recommending a person with whom he was in a dating relationship for a promotion, the LG clearly violated" New Jersey's Uniform Ethics Code, the state rules that bar officials from using their positions to benefit romantic partners. Investigators added that "these rules do not turn on whether the LG's request was framed as a demand, as they prohibit any attempt to use one's official position to benefit a romantic partner."
The woman Caldwell tried to promote did not receive the position and no longer works for the state.
Caldwell also allegedly brought personal guests, including his daughter and his girlfriend, to at least seven ticketed events, using his official title to obtain free admission. He later reimbursed the state $175 for one ticket. The investigation itself cost taxpayers $50,000, per one unnamed outlet.
Amid these revelations, House Republicans have separately pressed New Jersey over its voter-roll failures, compounding the political pressure on Sherrill's administration from multiple directions.
Caldwell has denied wrongdoing. In a statement to the New York Times, he called the investigation "driven by misinformation, false assumptions and what seems to be a personal vendetta against me." He went further:
"Unfortunately, in this current political environment, false accusations, especially against people of color, seem to be commonplace."
The report itself noted that Caldwell claimed "he did not fully understand the applicable rules," that the ethics area was "gray," and that "he did nothing wrong by bringing guests to events."
His attorney Calcagni offered a narrower defense, telling NJ.com:
"There is a difference between failing to disclose a personal relationship when forwarding the résumé of a qualified job applicant and actually using the power of public office to secure a job or financial benefit for someone."
Calcagni also attacked the process itself, calling it "this unnecessary protected and one-sided process" that "lacked the requisite due process that should be afforded every citizen of this state."
But the timeline undercuts the ignorance defense. Caldwell pushed the promotion email after he had already been admonished on ethics, after he had already been trained on workplace conduct, and after he already knew investigators were examining his behavior. Whatever gray areas may exist in New Jersey's ethics code, recommending your girlfriend for a state job four days after learning you are under investigation does not land in one of them.
GOP state Senate leader Anthony Bucco had publicly called for Caldwell to step aside weeks earlier. On September 4, Bucco wrote on X:
"Considering the complex duties of his position, Lt. Gov. Caldwell should temporarily step down from his duties as Lieutenant Governor."
New Jersey Republicans had demanded Caldwell be placed on leave while the investigation played out. Sherrill declined to act until the report was finalized, refusing to confirm or deny leaks that had surfaced in recent weeks. The governor waited for the finished product, and then moved swiftly, giving Caldwell a single day to resign.
Sherrill framed the demand in terms of institutional standards, not personal betrayal. In her Thursday statement, she said:
"I hold everyone in my Administration to the highest ethical standard. We all have a duty to follow our state ethics and harassment policy and our Code of Conduct. Anyone who violates these will be held accountable."
That language is careful and bureaucratic. It does not address the more uncomfortable question: how Caldwell passed whatever vetting process Sherrill's team conducted before selecting him. The anonymous letter that triggered the investigation accused Caldwell of "inappropriate behavior toward women", behavior that, if the report's findings are accurate, did not begin after he took office.
Sherrill's credibility on accountability has already been tested by DOJ accusations that she knew about the noncitizen voter-roll crisis before publicly denying it. The Caldwell resignation demand may be the right call on the merits, but it arrives against a backdrop of mounting questions about the governor's judgment and the reliability of her public statements.
Caldwell, who also oversees the New Jersey Department of State, served as president of Centenary University before entering politics. Whether he resigns by Sherrill's deadline, or forces a prolonged standoff, remains unclear. The report did not recommend criminal charges, but the ethics violations it documented are extensive, detailed across 61 pages, and supported by Caldwell's own emails.
New Jersey Republicans have also targeted Sherrill's sanctuary policy in recent months, and the Caldwell scandal now hands them another line of attack against an administration that has struggled to stay ahead of its own problems.
Sherrill picked Caldwell. She vouched for him. She ran alongside him. When voters choose a governor, they trust that the person one heartbeat away from the top job has been properly vetted. A 61-page report full of ethics violations and harassment findings suggests that trust was misplaced, and the person who placed it owes New Jersey more than a Thursday-night press release.
