Green Party Candidate for Congress, Lily Benavides, files ethics complaint against Mikie Sherrill

Green Party Candidate for U.S. Congress in New Jersey’s District 11 Files Ethics Complaint Against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11)

September 17, 2024 - For Immediate Release  

Last week, on Friday, September 13th, the Green Party Campaign of Lily Benavides for U.S. Congress in District 11, filed an ethics complaint against her Democratic Party opponent for the District 11 seat, Mikie Sherill. A similar complaint was filed shortly before the campaign’s filing by the Green Party of New Jersey (GPNJ). 

Both complaints allege that Rep. Mikie Sherrill both violated the prohibition against using public resources to fund her re-election campaign and the 90-day rule, sending out “unsolicited campaign-related materials within 90 days of Election Day” which this year falls on November 5th, 2024. According to data publicly available on Meta, The Office of Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill spent between $15,000 and $21,000 in taxpayer-funded ads on Facebook and Instagram targeting voters in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District within the 90-day ban on unsolicited mass communications.

The complaint was filed with the House Office on Congressional Ethics.

In explaining why it was so important to file this complaint, Ms. Benavides replied, “As an active member of the Green Party of New Jersey, committed to peace and justice, I do not take money from Super PACS or corporations. Democrats and Republicans do take money from PACS. I believe that this is what has corrupted our electoral system. As if that wasn't enough, candidates and elected officials like Rep. Mikie Sherrill use our own tax money to promote their campaigns.”      

The complaint alleges that Rep. Sherrill used thousands of tax dollars daily to send out information about Project 2025 in violation of the law against mixing campaign expenditures with public money collected for performing the functions of the Congressional office. Furthermore, the ad claimed that Rep Sherrill had “backed H.Res. 1386, condemning Project 2025” although she is not a cosponsor of that resolution.

The GPNJ is committed to removing big money from politics and to representing poor and working class people, instead of corporations. That is why GPNJ filed a similar complaint in support of the Benavides for Congress campaign.