Former New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, who resigned last week after investigators found that he had made inappropriate and sexually charged comments to women and violated ethics rules, is now being investigated by his church, according to an email from a bishop reviewed by The Inquirer.
Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, the bishop of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey Episcopal Area, sent a brief email to colleagues on Sept. 25, just hours after Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced Caldwell’s resignation that day.
“I write to inform you that I have received a complaint concerning Rev. Dale Caldwell, Lt. Governor of New Jersey and licensed pastor. The complaint is being processed according to the policies and procedures of the United Methodist Church,” the bishop’s email said.
In an email to the Inquirer Thursday night, Moore-Koikoi elaborated, saying she had suspended Caldwell from his pastoral duties until the investigation was done.
“Because we hold clergy to a high standard, we take the allegations made in the report seriously,” Moore-Koikoi’s statement said. “Following the publication of the report about the former Lt. Governor, I received a complaint based on the concerns raised in the report. In order to protect the well-being of Rev. Caldwell, the congregation, and all those involved, Rev. Caldwell has been placed on suspension while the complaint is processed.”
A spokesperson for the bishop clarified that the complaint “is based on what was already under investigation.”
In her email to members, Moore-Koikoi asked that they pray for him “and all those impacted by this process,” the email said. Moore-Koikoi included a Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 4:5a: “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.”
In an interview earlier Thursday, Caldwell said he was not facing any new allegations of impropriety. He said the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey Episcopal Area was simply “investigating the investigation, based on the same information.”
“It’s a piling on, and it’s crazy,” said Caldwell, the senior pastor at Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield.
At the time, he said no one has asked him to step aside. Caldwell could not immediately be reached for comment on the bishop’s statement saying she had suspended him.
Caldwell and his attorney have vociferously denied the former lieutenant governor and secretary of state did anything wrong and have criticized the findings of the four-month investigation by former Attorney General Christopher Porrino, who served under Gov. Chris Christie.
Caldwell, 66, left his job as president of Centenary University to run with Sherrill last year. The investigation found that Caldwell hit on a female staffer’s friend, and that when she turned him down, he told the staffer that ambitious women like them needed a man in a position to help them “but you young women are looking for young sperm.”
Caldwell denied making the comments, “but we did not find his denial credible,” Porrino’s report said. The state trooper accompanying Caldwell that day told investigators he never heard Caldwell make that statement.
Caldwell said Thursday he could not understand why they “disregarded” the testimony of the trooper, ”who was two feet away.”
The report said Caldwell also repeatedly brought personal guests to ticketed events without clearing it with the ethics officer and without paying for the extra tickets. The practice continued even after warnings, attending an ethics training, and being told about the investigation.
In releasing the report, Sherrill said it “lays out a pattern and practice of long-term concerning behavior.”
His attorney said when Caldwell “learned that reimbursement was appropriate in one particular situation, he reimbursed $175 for the event.”
Caldwell said he resigned “for the good of the state of New Jersey” because the matter distracted from the Sherrill administration’s important work.
When asked to comment, a Sherrill spokesperson referred to the governor’s earlier comments defending the thoroughness of Porrino’s investigation.
Caldwell and his attorney have said they are weighing their legal options. When asked what he might do, he said he could “sue for harassment.” He lamented “there was something wrong with the American system of justice” because it would take an enormous amount of money to prove he did nothing wrong.
“I can leave with my head up. I have a 22-year-old daughter and she was seeing all these people attack her dad,” Caldwell said. “I have a good life and opportunities. The number of supporters are many more than the detractors.”
Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed to this article.
This story has been updated to reflect Caldwell’s suspension from his pastoral duties.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill broke her silence Tuesday on a reported investigation into Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, but the governor offered little information on the matter and did not mention her No. 2 by name.
“Public service is an honor. And I have spent a lifetime of service in the Navy, as a prosecutor, in Congress, and now as Governor,” Sherrill, a first-term Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “I know that jobs of public trust impact the lives of everyday people and I deeply respect the oaths and responsibilities of these positions.
“Because of this respect, I demand that everyone in my administration hold themselves to the highest standards and put their obligations to public service first.”
Her statement comes four days after the New Jersey Globe reported that Caldwell is under internal investigation for allegations of inappropriate behavior with women and possible ethics violations, including an offer of state jobs.
Sean Higgins, a spokesperson for Sherrill, said Friday the administration could not “confirm or deny potential personnel matters.”
New Jersey GOP chair Christine Giordano Hanlon this weekend criticized the administration’s framing of the situation as“an effort to shield the information from the public” and called on Caldwell to resign.
“The governor and lieutenant governor should not be considered ‘personnel’ — they are the highest level elected officials in the state and must be held to the highest standard of accountability and transparency,” Hanlon said.
Sherrill’s Tuesday statement did not mention any specific investigation or individuals.
“I take my responsibility to treat any reports of inappropriate behavior or misconduct extremely seriously, and any credible report must be fully examined and addressed. If the evidence warrants, I will take appropriate action quickly,” Sherrill said.
The investigation had already begun when Caldwell worked as acting governor while Sherrill was out of state last week, the New Jersey Globe reported. BINJE.com reported that the investigation has been underway for months.
Christopher Porrino, who served as attorney general under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, is conducting the investigation into Caldwell, the Globe reported.
Sherrill noted in her statement that anyone with a complaint “will receive a fair and thorough review” and be safe from retaliation.
“Let me be clear,” she said, “I do not back down from tough fights or tough conversations, and I will always put the interests of New Jerseyans first.”
Assembly member Katie Brennan (D., Hudson) released a statement Tuesday calling the allegations serious.
“Anyone who uses the power of public office to mistreat the people around them has no business holding it,” she said. “Governor Sherrill moved quickly here, and I’m glad she did, but survivors shouldn’t have to hope that the people in charge will do the right thing.”
Brennan was a campaign volunteer for former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2017 primary election campaign who said after Murphy took office that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior campaign adviser.
Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. But Brennan’s decision to publicize the alleged assault and the administration’s failure to investigate her claims led to changes in state law on how victims are treated by law enforcement. She said in her statement Tuesday that she will push for bills to protect sexual assault survivors.
Caldwell has yet to publicly address the matter, and his office declined to comment Tuesday.
Sherrill chose Caldwell to be her lieutenant governor after her primary win last summer. Caldwell, who was the first Black president of Centenary University, is a pastor in the United Methodist Church. He has experience working in state government, starting nonprofits, leading charter schools, and serving on the New Brunswick school board.
Sherrill praised him as a “voice for the voiceless” who has followed in his parents’ footsteps when she announced him as her running mate last year. His mother was a teacher and his father, the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell, was a civil rights activist who protested alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Staff writer Susan Livio contributed to this article.
Chris Christie has been a two-time Republican presidential candidate, the governor of New Jersey, and a U.S. attorney. But history might show that he generated the most enduring national impact in a different role, as the godfather of legalized sports betting.
In 2012, when he was still New Jersey’s governor, Christie signed a bill that would allow customers to wager on professional and collegiate sports at 12 casinos and four racetracks.
He correctly predicted that the bill — which directly challenged a longstanding federal law that restricted legal sports betting to just a handful of states — would lead to him being sued by powerful opponents, and that over the long haul, his efforts would succeed.
But in a recent interview with The Inquirer, Christie said that even he did not imagine that sports gambling would evolve from a location-based attraction to phone apps that are readily accessible and open for business around the clock. Americans spent a record $165 billion on sports wagers in 2025, amid growing concern from health experts and lawmakers that mobile gambling is driving a health epidemic.
Nor did Christie — who now works as a strategic adviser to the American Gaming Association — envision the rise of prediction markets, some of which have been accused in lawsuits across the U.S. of running illegal sports betting operations. Christie, however, said he is unsurprised that two prediction market companies count Donald Trump Jr. among their advisers.
Christie’s sports gambling crusade began just two months after New Jersey voters approved a referendum in November 2011 to legalize sports betting in the state.
Casino industry lobbyists had long championed the type of bill that he signed, predicting that sports betting would be a double win for the state, attracting new customers to struggling casinos and generating revenue to benefit elderly and disabled residents.
But a federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, had since 1992 restricted legal sports betting to Delaware, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon. Christie wasn’t deterred.
“Am I expecting there may be legal action taken against us to try to prevent it? Yes,” he told reporters in 2012. “But I have every confidence we’re going to be successful.”
Then the National Collegiate Athletic Association — along with Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, and the NHL — sued Christie for violating the federal law, igniting a legal saga that would wind for years through district and circuit courts before reaching the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017.
Christie argued that PASPA had been a constitutional overreach that violated the Tenth Amendment’s “anti-commandeering” doctrine.
“We lost the first six times [in lower courts],” Christie said. “I had the sense that maybe I was wrong.”
In 2018, the Supreme Court voted to overturn PASPA, giving states the freedom to enact their own sports betting laws.
This interview with Christie, 63, has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Why was legalizing sports betting in 2012 a priority for you?
I was trying to differentiate Atlantic City, and give the casinos something new and different to offer, and to help preserve the horse racing business. I saw it at the time as an offensive and defensive measure. That was the motivation.
The leaders of professional sports leagues were critical of your efforts, and deeply opposed to legalizing sports gambling. What did you think of their position?
I thought that their opposition was both wrongheaded and hypocritical, and I told them so. [Then-NBA commissioner] David Stern was probably the most vehement against it, but [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell was a driving force, too. I told them, ‘[Sports betting] is happening anyway. You’d rather have people bet with illegal bookies — either mob-related, or offshore — than companies who are in the business and regulated by the state?’ It made no sense.
Along with his peers in other professional sports, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (right) was opposed in 2012 to an expansion of legalized sports betting.
Were you surprised to see those leagues later enter into lucrative partnerships with sportsbook companies?
I wasn’t surprised at all. The leagues have shown an extraordinary ability to chase a dollar. I’m still waiting for the statue that they’re going to build of me, or the thank-you note. [Legalizing sports betting] has helped their TV contracts as well. People who weren’t even necessarily interested in sports before are now extraordinarily interested because they have a little bit of a wager on it. It’s kind of amazing.
In the years since the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, NBA and MLB players have been arrested for conspiring with gamblers. An NFL executive was recently suspended for sharing inside information about the team’s draft plans.
It’s inevitable that was going to happen. But I think because there is such a great deal of transparency, the leagues can act quickly. That makes it much more different from when gambling was illegal, and you still had some athletes or people associated with sports interacting with [bettors]. The regulation brings about transparency, and transparency makes it easier to police.
Sports betting has evolved into a 24/7 mobile enterprise. Do you consider it to be a different product than what it was in 2012?
Completely. I don’t think I could ever have anticipated that it would be in everybody’s pocket. That’s a little bit disturbing to me, to tell you the truth, the proliferation of it. And obviously prediction markets have been very disturbing to me, particularly because they market to teenagers, which is strictly prohibited for the legal gaming companies.
Prediction markets have also faced backlash for allowing people to wager on U.S. military operations and the deaths of foreign leaders.
I think the whole thing is absurd, and not good for the public.
President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was reportedly given $300,000 worth of Kalshi shares in 2025, after becoming an adviser to the company. MARSHALL SCHEUTTLE
President Trump’s son, President Donald Trump Jr., is an adviser to Kalshi and has shares of the company, and his venture capital firm has invested in Polymarket. Those companies are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Does that seem like a conflict to you?
I think common sense gives you the answer to that. If it’s a money-making enterprise for the Trump family, then the odds are it’s going to face light regulatory action.
It’s betting. It’s not an investment. It’s not a commodity. The Supreme Court has ruled that states have the right to regulate sports betting. I think that it’s going to go to the Supreme Court, and I’m confident [the prediction markets] will lose.
We’ve interviewed addiction experts who say that sports gambling addiction is now a health epidemic, similar to tobacco and opioid abuse.
I always thought that a big portion of this [revenue] has to go toward addiction treatment, and I think that’s got to continue.
Elected officials in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states are exploring new regulations for sportsbook operators, like curtailing or eliminating in-game microbets or VIP programs. Are those kinds of reforms needed?
As long as [sports betting] is a venture that creates tax revenue, then the states are always going to be examining this issue. They’re partners. They can’t claim no responsibility. I don’t know how it’ll manifest, or where it’ll land. … I think all regulation should be rooted in evidence-based research. So if there are changes that we see that could help make [gambling] safer, they should be considered.
The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com and wbender@inquirer.com
Seated behind his desk in the Oval Office earlier this month, President Donald Trump spoke directly to the camera in front of him. He turned to his right and looked up at the Pennsylvania Republican who, as he had indicated just a few weeks earlier, might very well lose her race for governor this fall.
“I think you can win,” he said this time, extending his hand to Stacy Garrity. It was a change in tune for Trump, who last month at an event in Pennsylvania said Garrity’s opponent, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, was “expected to” and might win.
The president’s confidence in Garrity — and whether his support will extend beyond a handshake and a 17-second video with her at the White House — has become a critical question in the final stretch of the Pennsylvania governor’s race.
Down in the polls and lagging behind Shapiro’s unprecedented fundraising, Garrity has cultivated the president’s support and the potential boost, both financially and in Republican enthusiasm, that could come with it.
It is a risky strategy for a swing-state candidate whose party holds the White House, and particularly as polls show Trump becoming increasingly unpopular. Shapiro and his allies have enthusiastically promoted instances when Garrity, the twice-elected state treasurer, has leaned into Trump’s agenda and brand of politics.
But with less than three months before Election Day, it is not clear to what extent Trump or other key national Republicans will pitch in on her campaign.
State Treasurer and Republican candidate for governor Stacy Garrity holds a rally in Bucks County at the Newtown Sports & Events Center in this 2025 photo. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Trump has not yet stumped in any significant way for Garrity in Pennsylvania, a swing state where he was a near-constant presence during his winning 2024 campaign. And he has not lent his vast political resources — including a Trump-aligned super PAC flush with $400 million — to Garrity or other Republican candidates as his party faces tough campaigns across the country in the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Several gubernatorial races around the country are consideredcompetitive, a reality that also pits Garrity against GOP nominees who polling suggests have better shots of success. The same circumstances have doomed the most recent other Trump-endorsed Pennsylvania Republican nominees for governor — former State Sen. Scott Wagner in 2018 and State Sen. Doug Mastriano in 2022 — who never ended up with national support and lost by double digits.
Campaigns typically heat up after Labor Day, and there is still time for Garrity’s national allies to converge to boost her. But observers say the political reality is also evident.
“The president kind of looks toward two things,” said Samuel Chen, an Allentown-based Republican strategist who is not affiliated with Garrity andwho previously worked for Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania’s most recent GOP governor.
“One is loyalty to him. Garrity has been loyal, but has not necessarily been as vocal as some others have. The other side of it is he likes winners. He wants to endorse people who win,” Chen said. “Everyone in Trump’s orbit knows that Garrity has a very uphill climb.”
Not supporting ‘lost causes’?
The level of involvement from groups like the Republican Governors Association has been a key indicator of whether the party believes its nominee has a chance at winning recent gubernatorial elections in Pennsylvania.
The RGA is made up of GOP governors who collectively support one another’s agendas and campaigns. Democratic governors have a similar alliance.
In 2010 — the last time a Republican won the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg — the group was the largest donor to then-Attorney General Corbett’s gubernatorialcampaign, giving him $6 million starting in August of that year. Four years later and helmed by then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the RGA was once again Corbett’s biggest donor. It donated more than $5.8 million as Corbett became the first sitting Pennsylvania governor in decades to lose a reelection bid. Christie, preparing to run for president in 2016, stumped with Corbett multiple times.
The picture was starkly different in 2018 and 2022, when Republican voters nominated two candidates closely associated with Trump. Neither Wagner’s campaign against Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf nor Mastriano’s campaign against Shapiro ever became highly competitive — and the RGA and other national groups decided to sit out.
“We’re watching Pennsylvania very closely,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, then the chair of the RGA, said in September 2022. He added that the group would not support “lost causes” or “landslides.”
The RGA would spend nothing in the state that year, even with Mastriano and former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis pleading for assistance. Shapiro went on to trounce Mastriano by nearly 15 percentage points.
This year, RGA chair and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has not publicly weighed in on Garrity’s chances since issuing a brief, generic statement congratulating her after her unchallenged primary in May.
And the competitive landscape Republicans are facing across the country may mean Pennsylvania’s GOP nominee once again gets the short end of the stick. The RGA did not respond to requests for comment.
Even with Pennsylvania’s status as a preeminent swing state that went for Trump two years ago, there are nearly a dozen more competitive gubernatorial races across the country this fall, according to the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group that provides election analysis.
Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and Wisconsin — some of which voted overwhelmingly for Trump just two years ago — are all considered toss-ups. Four other states with Democratic governors — Oregon, Arizona, Michigan, and Kansas — are also considered more competitive than Pennsylvania, which is ranked as “solid Democratic,” according to Cook, despite Republicans like Garrity and Trump having won statewide two years ago.
The RGA, according to its most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission, had less than $1.7 million in its RGA Right Direction super PAC after spending about $16 million so far in the current election cycle.
Its recent spending has focused on Iowa, where Democrats are attempting to capture the governor’s office for the first time in two decades, and Kansas, where the RGA launched an ad this month.
“There’s always competition for limited resources,” Charlie Gerow, a longtime Harrisburg-based Republican strategist who also ran for governor in 2022, said of the intraparty competition for donors. “There’s only so much campaign funding to go around as everybody’s trying to get a piece of it.”
In July, Shapiro’s campaign announced he had raised $50 million since January 2025. The next financial filing deadline for statewide candidates is in September, but as of the last reporting cycle, he had outraised Garrity 10-1.
President Donald Trump brings U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (right) to the stage as he holds an event in Mackenzie’s Lehigh Valley district at Mack Trucks in Macungie Tuesday, June 23, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
But Matthew Beynon, a spokesperson for Garrity’s campaign, said she “does not expect, nor does she need, to go dollar-for-dollar with Josh Shapiro.” Instead, he said, she “just needs the resources to prosecute her case against Josh Shapiro … and she is on pace to be able to do so.”
Garrity looks forward to “continued support” from the RGA, he said.
Other national attention on Pennsylvania
After Mastriano’s disastrous performance in 2022, Republicans coalesced around Garrity — whose 3.5 million votes in 2024 were the most ever for a statewide candidate in Pennsylvania — as their best shot at defeating Shapiro.
But in the year since she received the party’s endorsement, Garrity has barely moved the needle. A Quinnipiac University poll in July found Shapiro leading Garrity 53% to 40% among registered Pennsylvania voters. Trump saw even lower scores: Just 39% of those polled approved of the president’s job performance.
A poll from a Republican-leaning firm promoted by Garrity showed her down, 50% to 43%.
Across Pennsylvania, she has also competed for attention and resources as her party prioritizes other major election battles this fall.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro addresses the audience during a rally for Democratic congressional candidate Bob Brooks at the United Steelworkers Union Hall in Bethlehem, Pa. on Sunday, July 26, 2026.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
On the other side of the aisle, Pennsylvania’s top elected Republican — U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick — has endorsed Garrity but has not appeared to join in her public campaign efforts so far. A Trump ally and former hedge fund leader, McCormick has raised millions since his election in 2024, and political action committees associated with him have donated to other PACs working to elect Pennsylvania Republicans in Congress.
McCormick has hosted events and campaigned for Garrity, and he “will keep doing everything he can to help her win,” said Mike DeVanney, a spokesperson for the senator.
“He believes she demonstrates the kind of leadership we need and the kind that President Trump and many others have recognized as one that can move our commonwealth forward,” DeVanney said.
Gerow said McCormick undoubtedly could help Garrity down the stretch.
“He’s a prolific fundraiser. He has the connections, and he has the personality to raise large amounts of money. And he can be very, very helpful with the Garrity campaign if he weighs in with full weight,” Gerow said.
Garrity’s campaign said McCormick has been an “incredible supporter,” including with his earlyendorsement and connections to supporters.
Shapiro has also cultivated across-the-aisle relationships with some Pennsylvania Republicans who would be expected to promote Garrity.
In an April interview with Punchbowl News, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican running for reelection in the nationally watched 1st Congressional District, said he thought Shapiro would win his reelection contest and should run for president, adding: “I think Josh is very, very smart.”
And during his 2022 run, Shapiro collected endorsements from other prominent Republicans, including Jim Schultz, a former Trump White House lawyer, and former Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent.
The final stretch
Though the November election is less than three months away, that is still plenty of time in politics. Most ad spending does not start until September, and ground game efforts — door knocking, phone banking, and get-out-the-vote campaigns — get underway in the fall.
Winning Pennsylvania is a priority for Trump in the midterms, and Garrity’s campaign said she is “grateful” for his continued support.
On the state level, James Markley, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania GOP, said the party is “fully invested” in helping Garrity beat Shapiro. Those efforts include training “thousands” of volunteers and working on education programs around early voting and casting mail-in ballots.
“The more Pennsylvania voters learn about Stacy Garrity, the more they love her,” he said in a statement. “The more Pennsylvania voters learn about Josh Shapiro, they realize he has no record to stand on.”
Gerow said Garrity’s challenge, with limited funds compared with Shapiro, is whether she has enough money to get her message out.
“The major concern for her immediately is to be able to tell her story,” Gerow said. “She doesn’t have the resources to tell that story effectively right now, and she has a great story.”
Buttons for State Treasurer Stacy Garrity and President Trump are left on a table following a VIP reception before a Garrity rally in Bucks County Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Throughout her campaign, Garrity has hammered Shapiro on several issues she said reveal his lack of transparency as a public official. She has held roundtable discussions blasting Shapiro for his early embrace of data centers, a position he has since distanced himself from after calling for new guidelines for their development. Her campaign released a video series online that questions his handling of criminal investigations. And she has repeatedly insisted that Shapiro, who is widely rumored to be running for president in 2028, is “more interested in Pennsylvania Avenue than helping Pennsylvania families.”
Samantha Reposa, a spokesperson for Shapiro’s campaign, disputed Garrity’s framing and emphasized that she has stood in lockstep with Trump on most of his positions.
“Garrity is now running to be nothing more than a rubber stamp for Trump and his agenda that’s hurting Pennsylvania families — and we will continue to hold her accountable,” Reposa said.
Given Garrity’s fundraising deficit, Chen said, he would advise her to focus on meeting individual people in the community, if he were running her campaign.
“Forget the GOP dinners. Start going to fairs. Start going to places that Republicans don’t show up. Start retail politics, and start introducing yourself to the state outside of Donald Trump, outside of modern Republicanism,” he said. “Tell the state what you’ve done for them and what you would do differently [as governor].”
Staff writer Joe Yerardi contributed to this article.
