While New Jerseyans waited, along with the rest of the country, for the presidential race to be called, voters knew most of the state’s election outcomes. And those results suggested that the political environment here is changing as it is elsewhere. “If there’s an area that we know Republicans have struggled under President Trump, it is the suburbs of this nation” as they switch from red to blue said Micah Rasmussen, director of Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, in an interview.
Micah Rasmussen –
Every one of the races that were not called on Election Day were telling. Rasmussen cited the state senate race in the 25th Legislative District, which includes Morris County suburbs, where incumbent Republican Anthony Bucco trails Democrat Rupande Mehta by several hundred votes.
And with over 3.5 million New Jerseyans having cast their ballots by mail or through one of the dozens of dropboxes across the state, political insiders contend that “going to the polls” may be a thing of the past. “The sheer volume of New Jerseyans who voted by mail alone, I think indicates that it was a very popular choice,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Rutgers Eagleton Center for Public Polling. “It’s really hard to pull back that system now that we’ve had a taste of it, and COVID will be with us for several months.”
Ashley Koning –
The change was necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which may still be a factor next year when Gov. Phil Murphy faces re-election. “People may still feel uncertain in going to a polling place,” Koning said.
By a two-to-one margin, New Jerseyans approved a ballot question that will legalize, regulate and tax recreational marijuana use in the state, making it one of five states where voters on election night approved legalization. “If you’re going to see a pretty profound change in our laws, you really want to see a consensus. You want to see an across the board section of the public buying into it,” Rasmussen said. [See related story, page 2]
In the widely watched race for the 2nd Congressional District seat, Republican Jeff Van Drew appeared to win re-election. Van Drew served in the state Legislature and was elected to Congress two years ago as a Democrat but switched parties last year. With about 75% of the precincts reporting, Van Drew held a 51% to 47% lead over Democratic challenger Amy Kennedy.
Elsewhere, the rest of the state’s congressional delegation also appeared headed back to Washington, including first-term Democrats who flipped districts two years ago along with members of committees important to New Jersey businesses.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (Left), Rep. Josh Gottheimer
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, the Democratic incumbent and former Newark mayor, was re-elected with 60.26% of the vote, or 1.73 million ballots. GOP challenger Rikin Mehta received 38.18%, or 1.1 million votes. And that’s with reporting from 64.19% of the state’s precincts.
Booker sits on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds confirmation hearings on many presidential nominees.
In the 1st District with 62.26% of the precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Rep. Donald Norcross received 64.7% of the district votes, while Republican challenger Claire Gustafson got 35.3%, or 88,367 votes.
Norcross, a longtime union electrician, sits on the Education and Labor Committee, appointed to both Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions and the Higher Education and Workforce Investment subcommittees.
In the 3rd District with about 76% of the precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Andy Kim garnered 54.9%; GOP challenger David Richter got 43.9% of the votes.
Kim, who narrowly unseated Republican incumbent Rep. Tom MacArthur in 2018, sits on the House Small Business Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access. And he sits on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which has scrutinized and panned the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. His district spans long-time Republican strongholds in South Jersey and well-to-do areas along the shore.
Rep. Andy Kim (top left), Rep. Tom Malinowski, Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Rep. Jeff Van Drew
In the 5th District with 68% of the precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Rep. Josh Gottheimer received 57.8% of the votes; GOP challenger Frank Pallotta got 41.2%.
Gottheimer, who flipped the North Jersey longtime Republican stronghold from red to blue in 2016, is the co-chair of the 50-member bipartisan Problem Solver’s Caucus. The group has put forward its own recommendations for a new COVID relief bill, stalled in Washington in the weeks leading up to the elections. They’ve proposed a continuation of the federal loans for businesses, unemployment relief and aid for states and municipalities hit hard by the pandemic.
In the 6th District with 48.8% of the precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Rep. Frank Pallone kept his seat with 67%, while Republican challenger Christian Onuoha received less than 33% of the vote. Pallone chairs the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In the 8th District with 55.2% of the precincts reporting, incumbent Rep. Albio Sires won 77% of the votes, while GOP challenger Jason Mushnick won just 21.6%.
Sires sits on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and sought Trump administration approval on funding for the Gateway Project, which would rehabilitate the rail connection between New Jersey and New York. Two members other Democratic members of the committee, Rep. Tom Malinowski and Rep. Donald Payne also retained their seats in the 7th and 10th Districts respectively. Malinowski is another first-term incumbent who flipped a seat in 2018.
In the 9th District with less than 51% of the precincts reporting in, Democratic incumbent Rep. Bill Pascrell won 67.27% of the votes while Republican challenger Billy Prempeh received 30.69%. Pascrell sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, the chief tax-writing body in the lower chamber of Congress.
Mikie Sherrill, who turned the 11th District to blue after decades of Republican representation, won 58.6% of the vote, compared to 41.4% for Republican challenger Rosemary Becchi. Those totals were from 59% of the district’s precincts.
Sherrill chairs the Subcommittee on Environment within the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
In the 12th District, with 63.42% of the precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman won 70.27% of the votes, while Republican challenger Mark Razzoli received 28.27%. Watson Coleman sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings for the federal government.
