Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), the Democrat candidate in New Jersey’s high-stakes governor’s race, was blocked from walking with her graduating class at the Naval Academy, military records show.
At the time, Sherrill was involved in a cheating scandal, the New Jersey Globe reported.
A copy of the commencement program from the year Sherrill graduated does not list her name, the Globe reported.
She told the outlet that she was barred from walking because she did not turn in classmates who cheated on an electrical engineering exam.
“I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly ten years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” Sherrill explained.
The scandal involved at least 125 students.
It grabbed significant publicity at the time and was viewed as a huge betrayal of the academy’s code of honor.
It even led to scrutiny from Congress.
The scandal resulted in the resignation of the Academy’s superintendent.
The news of Sherrill’s involvement in the worst cheating scandal in the Naval Academy’s history has rocked one of the biggest and most closely watched elections this fall.
Polls show Sherrill in a dead heat