an x icon - click to close the quick summary modal

quick summary

Sean Spiller

Sean Spiller is a public school teacher, union leader, and current Mayor of Montclair running for Governor of New Jersey. A lifelong advocate for education and labor rights, he rose to become President of the NJEA, one of the most powerful unions in the state. His campaign focuses on affordability, housing reform, climate action, labor protections, and defending civil rights against federal overreach. While Spiller embraces traditional Democratic infrastructure and language, particularly in his strong union ties and institutional experience, his platform includes progressive reforms aimed at curbing corporate influence, boosting transparency, and rebalancing the economy in favor of working families — placing him somewhere between establishment Democrat and grassroots reformer.

Click the red x at the top of this box and then scroll down down for more in-depth information and sources.

Sean Spiller

Running for:
Governor
Incumbent
Challenger

Websites

This election is on June 10th, 2025

democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot democrt donkey mascot

Agenda

  • Affordability & Economic Justice
    - Address major cost drivers: housing, healthcare, childcare, higher education, and climate change
    - Re-prioritize the state budget to serve working families over corporate and political elites
    - Build an economy that works for regular New Jerseyans, not just the wealthy

  • Housing
    - Build over 200,000 new homes to reduce statewide housing shortages
    - Help municipalities meet affordable housing mandates without overdevelopment
    - Restrict corporate acquisition of housing stock to control rising rents
    - Set statewide rent increase benchmarks
    - Invest in foreclosure and eviction prevention programs
    - Return foreclosed and abandoned properties to the market
    - Focus homeownership programs on communities historically excluded from ownership

  • Healthcare
    - Require pricing transparency from hospitals and insurance companies
    - Codify the Office of Health Care Affordability & Transparency
    - Create an independent board to enforce pricing benchmarks
    - Negotiate quality, affordable public-sector healthcare plans
    - Cap prices on select prescription drugs
    - Ban medical debt collection via wage garnishment or credit score penalties
    - Expand access to school-based and community health clinics

  • Childcare
    - Expand universal pre-K statewide
    - Invest in childcare facility infrastructure and transportation
    - Streamline licensing and reduce barriers to opening centers
    - Expand tax credits and financial aid for childcare expenses
    - Support childcare workers with educational and professional opportunities

  • Climate & Energy
    - Maintain goal of 100% clean energy by 2035
    - Expand electric vehicle infrastructure and tax incentives
    - Fund energy efficiency and resiliency upgrades
    - Integrate clean energy goals across state departments
    - Electrify ports and public transit
    - Fully implement NJ’s Environmental Justice law
    - Modernize storm-vulnerable infrastructure
    - Partner with schools to develop a green jobs pipeline

  • Education
    - Strengthen public schools and universal pre-K
    - Boost NJ’s national education ranking to #1
    - Support inclusive, well-funded, and safe learning environments

  • Jobs & Labor
    - Protect collective bargaining rights
    - Prevent retaliation against unionizing workers
    - Expand union protections and labor solidarity
    - Promote small business development and workforce growth

  • LGBTQIA+ Rights
    - Defend marriage equality and anti-discrimination protections
    - Focus on trans youth rights in healthcare, housing, and legal identity
    - Codify inclusive protections into state law

  • Gun Violence Prevention
    - Support common-sense gun laws
    - Increase safety in schools and public areas

  • Protecting Democracy & Civil Rights
    - Appoint AG to fight federal intimidation and defunding efforts
    - Re-establish the NJ Office of Public Advocate
    - Form emergency response task force for federal threats
    - Fully enact the Immigrant Trust Act
    - Defend reproductive rights and abortion access
    - Protect digital privacy from federal overreach (DOGE data concerns)
    - Expand OPRA access while safeguarding personal data
    - Reform procurement and contracting for fairness
    - Strengthen ethics standards for public officials
    - Increase super PAC transparency
    - Regulate AI use in elections to prevent disinformation

  • Voting Rights & Press Freedom
    - Support same-day voter registration
    - Prevent voter harassment and expand outreach
    - Support a free and independent press
    - Defend book access and freedom to read
    - Promote civil conduct at public school board meetings
    - Task force on speech rights and safety in higher education

Background and Experience

Sean Spiller is a career educator, union leader, and local elected official currently running for Governor of New Jersey. He is the Mayor of Montclair and the President of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), one of the largest unions in the state. His background includes years as a high school science teacher, and he remains deeply involved in education as both a professional and a parent.

Spiller is the son of Jamaican immigrants and a product of New Jersey public schools. He earned a master's degree from Ramapo College and captained the Rutgers hockey team. As Mayor, he passed Montclair’s first-ever rent control ordinance, championed green development, implemented a debt-reduction strategy, and worked to strengthen local schools.

His campaign focuses on uplifting working-class New Jerseyans by shifting political power away from elites, Wall Street interests, and corporate entities toward educators, union workers, and regular families.