Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill is nominating veteran prosecutor Jennifer Davenport as New Jersey’s next attorney general, elevating a longtime law enforcement insider with deep ties to state government and corporate New Jersey into one of the most politically sensitive roles in her incoming administration.
If confirmed, Davenport would become the state’s 57th attorney general, replacing Matt Platkin, whose term expires on Jan. 20, 2026, the same day Sherrill is sworn in. Davenport emerged over the past ten days as one of two finalists for the job, alongside former Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna, after an extensive vetting process that included a slate of high-profile legal and political figures.
A Monmouth County resident, Davenport brings a résumé that spans state, federal and corporate law. She served as first assistant attorney general from 2018 to 2020 under then–Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, positioning her as the department’s second-in-command during a period of aggressive ethics enforcement and institutional restructuring. Before that, she spent nearly seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney, including time as chief of the general crimes unit, and almost three years as an attorney and division counsel at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She also briefly served as acting Union County prosecutor.
Most recently, Davenport has been deputy general counsel and chief litigation counsel at PSEG, where she has worked since 2022. That role is expected to complicate her early tenure as attorney general. Because of her employment at the state’s largest utility, Davenport will likely need to recuse herself from energy-related matters — including Sherrill’s promised day-one executive order freezing electricity costs, a centerpiece of her gubernatorial campaign.
Defending that executive order, should it be challenged by PSEG or other energy providers, would fall to a yet-to-be-named first assistant attorney general, who would serve as acting AG on those issues. The potential conflict looms larger given Sherrill’s parallel campaign pledge to expand the state’s nuclear capacity, a move that could directly involve the PSEG-owned Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants.
Gov. Phil Murphy previously nominated Davenport as New Jersey’s commissioner to the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, a post that became moot after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision allowed New Jersey to withdraw from the bi-state agency after more than 70 years.
Her confirmation hearing in the Senate is also expected to revisit her role in establishing the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability in 2018, an internal watchdog unit that has since become one of the most controversial and litigated arms of the Attorney General’s Office. At the time, Davenport was Grewal’s top deputy and a key architect of the office’s structure.