New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill appointed Shirley U. Emehelu lieutenant governor and secretary of state Monday, Nov. 9, making her the state’s fifth lieutenant governor and creating its first all-women governor-lieutenant governor team.
Emehelu assumed both roles that day, according to the governor’s announcement. The state’s official lieutenant governor biography identifies her as New Jersey’s first immigrant to hold the office.
Before the appointment, Emehelu had served as acting state comptroller since the start of Sherrill’s administration. She became acting secretary of state after Dale Caldwell resigned Sept. 25. Sherrill’s office cited Emehelu’s oversight of state elections the previous week as one reason for the selection. Emehelu now holds the secretary of state post alongside the lieutenant governorship.
Sherrill’s announcement says Emehelu spent nine years prosecuting complex financial fraud and leading asset-recovery and anti-money-laundering work in New Jersey’s federal prosecutor’s office.
From 2022 to 2024, she held the state’s Executive Assistant Attorney General post, the third-ranking role in the Attorney General’s Office. She coordinated oversight involving more than 500 attorneys, the announcement said.
In the announcement, Emehelu said she had spent her career “upholding the law” and “rooting out fraud, abuse, and corruption.”
Article V of the New Jersey Constitution says the lieutenant governor assumes the governor’s duties when the governor is outside the state or unable to serve. The lieutenant governor must head a principal state department or another executive or administrative agency, take on duties delegated by the governor, or do both; state law may provide additional duties. The constitution also requires a governor to appoint a lieutenant governor within 45 days of a vacancy and allows the governor to appoint the lieutenant governor as secretary of state without Senate advice and consent.
