Sherrill took opioid company donations while attacking opponent over crisis

FIRST ON FOX: New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill has taken tens of thousands of dollars from companies linked to the opioid crisis as she hammers her Republican opponent over his alleged connection to the same crisis.

Sherrill spoke Monday at a news conference about the Garden State’s opioid epidemic, where she accused Ciattarelli of “looking for ways to help people get access to the drugs that were killing them” through his ties to training programs backed by the pharmaceutical industry.

“So you heard it, Jack made millions,” she said. “Opioid companies have made billions, and thousands, of dollars. New Jerseyans were dying. »

However, this attack could come back to haunt his campaign. His congressional campaigns received three $1,000 donations from AmerisourceBergen’s political action committee in 2018, 2019 and 2022, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital.

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Democrat Mikie Sherrill participates in the final New Jersey gubernatorial debate with Republican Jack Ciattarelli in New Brunswick, New Jersey, October 8. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)

His campaign also received at least $4,500 from Teva Pharmaceuticals’ PAC, $1,000 from Endo Pharmaceuticals’ PAC and $17,000 from Johnson & Johnson.

In total, a Fox News Digital study found that at least $25,500 in donations from companies linked to the opioid crisis went to Sherrill’s campaign.

AmerisourceBergen may have been accused especially in 2021 by Democratic Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to profit from billions of dollars from the opioid epidemic through the shipment of dangerous prescription painkillers, with little regard for how these drugs contribute to the deaths of citizens. AmerisourceBergen, which is now called Cencora, and two other companies are expected to reach a settlement with Washington state for more than $500 million.

In early 2022, AmerisourceBergen, whose executives were exposed for calling West Virginians “pills” at the height of the opioid crisis, announced it would agree to a $6.1 billion settlement that would be paid over 18 years and cover the “vast majority of opioid lawsuits filed by state government entities and local,” according to a press release.

JACK CIATTARELLI DEMANDS MIKIE SHERRILL “COME CLEAN” AS EXPLOSIVE ACCUSATIONS FLY INTO NJ GOVERNOR’S RACE

New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli on stage before the final debate in New Brunswick, New Jersey on October 8. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)

In late 2022, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen, one of the nation’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors, alleging that the company “for years flouted its legal obligations and prioritized profits over the well-being of Americans” by failing to report suspicious orders of controlled substances, such as fentanyl and oxycodone, that were then sold illegally, fueling the devastating opioid epidemic.

The three other pharmaceutical companies that donated thousands of dollars to Sherrill’s campaigns through their PACs also reached massive settlements for their role in the opioid crisis, which includes more than $4 billion from Teva to participating states and local governments, according to a press release from Texas AG Ken Paxton’s office.

Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay $5 billion as part of their settlement, according to their 2022 press release.

Mikie Sherrill, communications director for Gov. Sean Higgins, responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, calling the story “a desperate attack by perennial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who refuses to answer for his role in publishing misinformation about the dangers of opioids at the height of the opioid epidemic.”

“Mikie Sherrill has shown time and time again that she will hire anyone to stand up for families and fight the opioid crisis. That’s why she helped pass historic bipartisan legislation, signed into law by President Trump, to help fund treatment, recovery and prevention programs in New Jersey.”

The campaign did not respond to a question from Fox News Digital about whether the money donated by drug companies would be returned.

In 2017, Ciattarelli received $1,500 from Mallinckrodt LLC PAC, a company that reached a settlement for its involvement in the opioid crisis in 2022. Additionally, the New Jersey Republican received $500 from Johnson & Johnson, a company that also reached an opioid settlement, in 2016.

Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell told Fox News Digital in a statement: “Just as Mikie Sherrill was caught red-handed personally profiting from investments in the same New Jersey utility companies that she blamed for electricity rate increases, it’s no surprise to learn that Mikie’s hypocrisy extends to taking thousands of campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical companies she slandered yesterday.”

“At this point, if Mikie Sherrill’s lips move, you can just assume she’s lying,” he continued.

Sherrill first claimed Ciattarelli contributed to the opioid epidemic during last week’s gubernatorial debate.

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New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill (R) and Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli (L) on stage at the start of their second and final debate October 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News Digital)

“Compared to everything she has just said about my professional career, which has brought me [for] my family is a lie. I’m proud of my career,” Ciattarelli responded during the debate.

It was during his 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s ties to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.

And Ciattarelli’s campaign fought back the day after the debate, pledging to file a defamation suit against Sherrill.

“Mikie Sherrill has cracked,” Russell, chief strategist for the Ciattarelli campaign, said at the time.

“In doing so, she claimed – twice – that Jack Ciattarelli had ‘killed tens of thousands of people, including children,’ a clearly defamatory attack that shocked moderators, the press and the public,” Russell added. “At a time when political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent, Mikie Sherrill’s baseless and reckless accusation of mass murder during a televised debate crosses the line.”

Stephen Sorace and Paul Steinhauser of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.