New Jersey's governor gave her hand-picked lieutenant governor until Friday to resign after a 61-page investigation found he sexually harassed a female staffer and violated state ethics rules, just seven months into the job.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill issued the ultimatum Thursday evening, hours after her office released the independent report detailing what investigators called "serious, repeated violations of state policy" by Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell. The probe, led by former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino and authored by the law firm Lowenstein Sandler, concluded that Caldwell's conduct "constituted sexual harassment and was derogatory or demeaning."
Sherrill did not mince words. In a statement reported by the New York Post, the governor laid out her position plainly:
"I'm calling for his resignation and giving him until tomorrow to do so."
She added that she holds "everyone in my Administration to the highest ethical standard" and that "anyone who violates these will be held accountable." The investigation cost New Jersey taxpayers an estimated $50,000.
The report traces the misconduct to at least April 2026, when Caldwell, 66 and divorced, allegedly hit on a much younger friend of one of his staffers at an official event. When the staffer later told Caldwell her friend was not interested in a romantic relationship with him, Caldwell responded, while riding in his state vehicle, with a remark the report quotes directly: "you young women are looking for young sperm."
Investigators found the comment credible. Caldwell's attorney, Thomas Calcagni, denied his client ever said it.
That was not the only allegation involving women. The report found that Caldwell tasked a staffer with finding him a "first lady", reportedly in connection with a potential run for governor, and became "pushy" when she declined the assignment. Investigators determined this behavior fit the definition of sexual harassment under state policy.
The ethics violations were equally direct. The report found that Caldwell used his state email account to recommend his girlfriend, a government employee he referred to only as a "friend", for a "senior leadership position." He did not disclose their personal relationship. Investigators concluded that by "recommending a person with whom he was in a dating relationship for a promotion, the LG clearly violated" the state's Uniform Ethics Code.
The timing made the violation harder to excuse. Fox News reported that Caldwell sent the email just four days after he was formally notified of the investigation into his behavior. He had already been "admonished and trained" in workplace conduct and ethics matters before the incidents in question.
The report was blunt about Caldwell's defense. He claimed "he did not fully understand the applicable rules, that the area was 'gray,' and that he did nothing wrong." Investigators rejected that framing. "These rules do not turn on whether the LG's request was framed as a demand," the report stated. "They prohibit any attempt to use one's official position to benefit a romantic partner."
The woman Caldwell sought to promote did not receive the position and no longer works for the state.
A separate strand of the investigation focused on Caldwell's use of his official title to obtain free admission to at least seven ticketed events, not just for himself, but for personal guests including his daughter and girlfriend. Fox News noted that Caldwell continued bringing unpaid guests to events even after repeated training and warnings, including the day after he was formally notified of the investigation.
Calcagni, Caldwell's attorney, said his client reimbursed the state $175 for one event admission after being told he could not accept free tickets. That single reimbursement covered one event out of at least seven flagged in the report.
Caldwell has not resigned. 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, invoking race:
"Unfortunately, in this current political environment, false accusations, especially against people of color, seem to be commonplace."
His attorney took a different tack, challenging the investigation's process rather than the racial angle. Calcagni told NJ.com that "this unnecessary protected and one-sided process lacked the requisite due process that should be afforded every citizen of this state." On the ethics violation, he drew a distinction the report itself rejected:
"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."
Investigators did not agree. The report found that the ethics code does not require proof that the promotion attempt succeeded, only that a public official tried to use his position to benefit a romantic partner.
The speed of the collapse is striking. In July 2025, Sherrill selected Caldwell as her running mate and praised him in terms that now read as a liability. "I'm proud to select Dale Caldwell as my Lieutenant Governor running mate because we share a commitment to public service and challenging the status quo," she said at the time. She added that Caldwell was "the son of civil rights leaders who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma" and called him "a voice for the voiceless."
Caldwell, a former president of Centenary University, also oversees New Jersey's Department of State. The pair ran against Republican Jack Ciattarelli and were sworn in roughly seven months before the report's release. The anonymous letter that triggered the investigation arrived at the governor's office in May, meaning the probe consumed a significant share of Caldwell's brief tenure.
The Washington Examiner reported that Sherrill characterized the violations as serious enough to warrant immediate removal, saying Caldwell's "resignation is necessary and in the best interest of New Jersey residents."
New Jersey Republicans did not wait for the final report. GOP state Senate leader Anthony Bucco posted on X on September 4, calling for Caldwell to step aside while the investigation played out.
"Considering the complex duties of his position, Lt. Gov. Caldwell should temporarily step down from his duties as Lieutenant Governor."
Sherrill's office refused to confirm or deny the leaked allegations in the weeks before the report's release. Republicans had demanded Caldwell be placed on leave during the investigation. Whether Caldwell was ever formally sidelined from his duties remains unclear from available reporting.
Several questions remain unanswered. Who sent the anonymous letter? Will Caldwell comply with the Friday deadline, or will Sherrill pursue other options to remove him? And how did a candidate who was vetted as a running mate just fourteen months ago end up the subject of a 61-page harassment report before his first year in office was finished?
Sherrill chose Caldwell. Sherrill vouched for him. And now Sherrill wants him gone, a reminder that accountability starts with the people who put the wrong person in the job.
