After Caldwell resigns: vetting fight, Booker/Kim pressure, and the 45-day LG clock

TRENTON — After New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigned Friday, the political fight shifted from whether he would leave to what Gov. Mikie Sherrill knew, how her campaign and administration vetted him, and whether the next lieutenant governor should face public legislative scrutiny — angles that fill in gaps beyond the core resignation narrative.

Hudson TV previously reported the New Jersey Globe’s account of Sherrill accepting Caldwell’s resignation after a Lowenstein Sandler investigation substantiated sexual harassment and ethics violations, along with Acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu’s appointment and the 45-day constitutional clock to name a new lieutenant governor. This follow-up gathers attributed reaction, timeline detail, and vetting criticism from other outlets and official records.

Legislative leaders agree he had to go — then split. Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin welcomed the resignation. “Continued service would hinder the effective execution of the duties assigned to the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State,” Scutari said, according to the New Jersey Monitor. Coughlin said Caldwell “was right to resign” and backed Sherrill’s push for a swift resolution, NBC News and the Monitor reported.

Republican leaders framed Caldwell’s exit as necessary but incomplete. Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco said the administration should release investigatory records with minimal redactions: “The public deserves full disclosure,” the Monitor quoted. Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio accused Sherrill of a “failure to vet the man she chose to stand one heartbeat from the governorship” and urged her next lieutenant-governor pick to appear publicly before Senate and Assembly committees — even though the New Jersey Constitution does not require legislative confirmation for an LG appointment to fill a vacancy.

“She announced Caldwell as her running mate 45 days after the primary. Now she has 45 days to choose his replacement,” DiMaio said, per the Monitor and New Jersey Globe. “After Caldwell, the governor cannot expect New Jerseyans to simply take her word that she got the vetting right this time.”

Sherrill dismissed Republican criticism as partisan, the Monitor reported, and cast the episode as part of a broader “culture change” in Trenton. “There has been a culture in Trenton, probably since the birth of our nation, to sweep this under the rug,” she said Friday, according to NBC News and the Monitor. She said victims too often had to “quit their job or move on.”

Federal Democrats piled on before the resignation landed. On Thursday night and Friday, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim called for Caldwell to resign, the New Jersey Globe reported. “Governor Sherrill is absolutely right the conduct described in the investigative report is totally unacceptable,” Booker said. Kim said the findings were “unacceptable” and that Caldwell “should resign immediately.”

Timeline from the report and press coverage. The Sept. 23 Lowenstein Sandler report posted on NJ.gov says an anonymous letter dated May 6, 2026, reached the chief ethics officer on May 14; Caldwell was notified May 22; and the firm was retained around May 21. The New Jersey Globe reported earlier internal warnings: a March 25 conversation about a “concerning pattern” in approaches to women, and another confrontation after May 1 ethics training. The Globe first disclosed the probe Sept. 4. Sherrill said she received the final report Thursday morning, Sept. 24, released it, and gave Caldwell until Friday to resign — which he did.

Investigators also found Caldwell’s unpaid-guest practice continued after warnings, identifying seven ticketed events from Feb. 19 to May 23 with known ticket prices from $65 to $300, the Globe reported. After learning of the investigation, Caldwell reimbursed the state $175 for one guest’s May 2 Morven attendance, according to that coverage of the report. A May 26 email seeking a romantic partner’s promotion came four days after formal notice of the probe, the report states.

What remains unresolved. Asked whether findings would be referred to the attorney general or other authorities, Sherrill said she had focused first on removing Caldwell and that her administration would decide later on further penalties, the New Jersey Monitor reported. An Associated Press account carried by PBS NewsHour noted that in a letter included in the report, Caldwell said he suspected relationships with women were subjected to extra scrutiny because he was a single Black man — a claim investigators did not treat as disposing of the substantiated findings. Caldwell’s attorney, Thomas Calcagni, has disputed the three findings and criticized the process as lacking due process, NBC News reported.

Sherrill also faced questions about a Centenary University whistleblower who, the New Jersey Globe reported, tried to raise concerns with her 2025 campaign. Sherrill said the matter was referred to a law firm and treated as an administrative college issue, per the Globe’s Friday coverage.

Hudson County stake. There is no separate Hudson County allegation in the ethics report. The practical local impact is statewide elections administration: Caldwell was New Jersey’s chief election officer weeks before the November midterms. Sherrill said Friday the state is “just 39 days away from the midterm elections” and that confidence in election officials matters, the Monitor reported — a point that covers Hudson County voters the same as the rest of the state under Acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu.

Under the New Jersey Constitution, Article V, Section I, paragraph 9, Sherrill still has 45 days from the vacancy to appoint a lieutenant governor for the unexpired term. Until then, Senate President Scutari serves as acting governor when Sherrill is out of state (Article V, Section I, paragraph 7). No permanent lieutenant governor has been named.

Related: N.J. Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigns after ethics probe; Sherrill names acting secretary of state