A cheating scandal long buried in the U.S. Naval Academy archives has suddenly exploded into New Jersey politics, and rightly so — voters deserve to know the full story about the leaders they’re being asked to trust. A recent Quinnipiac survey still shows Democrat Mikie Sherrill in the lead, but the margin is far from comfortable and the race has tightened as this controversy spreads.
Reporting shows Sherrill did not walk with her graduating class in 1994 amid a massive 1992 engineering exam cheating scandal that ensnared over a hundred midshipmen, an episode she has described as tied to her refusal to “turn in” classmates. The real issue for voters is straightforward: if you make military service a central plank of your resume, you owe the public transparency about any disciplinary chapters in that record.
The scandal took an even uglier turn when the National Archives apparently released largely unredacted military files — including highly sensitive personal data — to an ally of Sherrill’s Republican rival, setting off demands for a federal probe. Whether that release was a bureaucratic screw-up or part of dirty politics, it exposed a dangerous mix of leaked personal data and weaponized narratives that now dominate the headlines.
Democratic leaders are rushing to indict the leak as a partisan attack, but their outrage rings hollow unless their candidate is willing to be fully transparent herself. If Sherrill’s military service is the proud centerpiece of her political brand, she should release the sealed disciplinary records or at least allow an independent review so the voters can judge for themselves — hiding behind victimhood and federal privacy handwaving won’t cut it.
For Republicans this is an opportunity, not a consolation prize. The Quinnipiac numbers show the race within striking distance, and when ethics and character become front-and-center, voters who care about accountability move away from the establishment narrative. The GOP must press this advantage: demand answers, keep the heat on, and remind New Jerseyans that taxes and honesty are linked — you can’t fix a state’s problems with lawmakers who dodge hard questions.
Finally, Congress and the Archives owe the public answers about how such an explosive leak happened and why sensitive veteran records were mishandled in a way that impacts an election. Patriots of every stripe should demand accountability from institutions that are supposed to safeguard personal data and the integrity of our democratic process — and at the ballot box, hardworking Americans should decide which candidate truly stands for service, sacrifice, and transparency.
