MORRISTOWN - Looking out over the Hyatt Regency ballroom Thursday night, Mikie Sherrill saw a lot of friends. This is her congressional district after all.

"I'm going to challenge you. I would love to win Morris County," she said.

The crowd of Morris Dems - at least 300 strong - roared its approval.

Sherrill has won the CD-11 portion of Morris County every time she's run for Congress. She may indeed win it again this year.

But the western half, or CD-7 part of the county, which includes such places as Roxbury, Mount Olive and Washington Township, is more conservative. Winning there would be tougher.

Sherrill's stop in Morristown came at the end of a long day of campaigning. And on this stop, she was accompanied by Jason Crow, a fellow House member from Colorado.

Crow, a one-time Army ranger, shares a military background with Sherrill, who deadpanned this evening that people may know she was in the Navy.

Call it a joke among friends. Even if they tried, no one could forget that Sherrill was a Navy pilot.

"Many of you I've known since the first race and Fridays with Frelinghuysen," she said.

The reference was to weekly protests outside the then-congressman's office over his refusal to hold town hall meetings.

She said some people may have thought that her win that year (2018) and the defeat of Donald Trump in 2020 would mean continued success.

But politics follows its own script. And here we are.

"We are staying in the fight until the fight is over," she said.

A good part of Sherrill's gubernatorial campaign is a need to protect New Jersey from the Trump Administration.

She reiterated that theme again tonight, talking about tariffs and rising prices and the termination of the Gateway project.

While she said she would fight for the state, Jack Ciattarelli would do whatever Trump wants.

Crow said afterwards that he came to New Jersey to boost Sherrill because of a bond they have developed.

Besides military experience, they were both elected to Congress for the first time in 2018.

"Our duty to serve and fight for this country and democracy never ends," Crow said. "She's all in and I'm all in for her."