Central Jersey is one of the few true battlegrounds in this year’s elections, as Democrats try to take full control of what is now a split 16th Legislative District solidly Republican just six years ago.

The retirement this year of Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman, the last Republican representing the district that spans parts of Hunterdon and Somerset counties along with Princeton and South Brunswick, has given the Democrats their greatest chance to capture that Senate seat. Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, the first Democrat to win in the district in decades when he was elected in 2015, is seeking the Senate seat. Trying to keep it in Republican hands is Michael Pappas, a former one-term congressman.

Assemblyman Roy Freiman, a Democrat first elected four years ago, is seeking reelection with Sadaf Jaffer, former mayor of Montgomery who was thought to be the first female Muslim mayor in the country. The GOP ticket features Vinny Panico, a six-year member of the board of education of the Hunterdon Central Regional School District, and Joe Lukac, a Manville councilman.

The voter registration data would seem to support the Democrats: Almost 37% of all registrants are Democrats, while just about a quarter are Republicans; Democrats outnumber the GOP by more than 21,000. So does campaign spending in this, the fifth most expensive race in early October, with the Democrats outspending the Republicans by close to 7-to-1. Still, unaffiliated voters outnumber both parties and the Republican candidates say that bolsters their chances. Add a wild card: The district is the home of GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, and it is unknown whether that could bring more Republicans to the polls.

“We have a very clear and very strong pathway to victory,” said Panico, 30, an internet technology consultant working on infrastructure issues as part of a federal partnership and with first responders. “We need to get the unaffiliated voters out. As we go around the district, we see that happening; the unaffiliated are breaking two-to-one for us.”

GOP candidates come out swinging

All the Republican candidates have been on the offensive, criticizing the Democrats on a host of issues. They have been critical of Zwicker and Freiman in particular on taxes, school funding, affordable housing and the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

The Democratic candidates have said they are proud of their records and their positions, particularly on social issues and environmental policies.

“I’m proud to have sponsored over 200 pieces of legislation that have become law, including more than two dozen that I’ve written to protect our environment, ensure clean air and water for all, innovative ways to grow our economy, preserve farmland, preserve open space and ensure that access to voting in New Jersey is easier,” said Zwicker, 57, head of communications and public outreach at Princeton University’s Plasma Physics Laboratory, during a League of Women Voters debate last month. “Most recently, I’ve worked with my colleagues in the Legislature to combat the economic toll COVID-19 has left upon our small businesses and our communities, helping them get back on their feet, and to thrive.”

It was the Legislature’s failures regarding Zwicker’s last point that Pappas, 60, said prompted him to run. In particular, he complained of overreach by Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat seeking reelection, and Democratic lawmakers’ inaction to try to rein in the governor’s COVID-19-related orders closing businesses.

“One-third of all small businesses in our state have closed permanently over the past year,” said Pappas, the Bridgewater township administrator. “The state’s reaction to the pandemic with regard to the business community has been disjointed. Large businesses were able to remain open, with limited restrictions. Small businesses were required to close … Legislative oversight is very critical for state legislative bodies. This present Legislature, my opponent in particular, has ignored that very critical role in legislative oversight.”

Talk about taxes

Pappas, of Branchburg, brought up taxes several times in that debate, saying Zwicker “has voted on several occasions to raise state income taxes. He has voted to raise property taxes. He has voted to institute a rain tax. He has supported what’s the highest corporate tax rate in the nation.” The “rain tax” is actually a fee municipalities and counties can now levy on such properties as malls and office parks with large parking lots where stormwater washes off easily and can contribute to local flooding and polluting the state’s rivers and streams.

He also tried to ally himself with Bateman, who won by a narrow margin to hold onto his seat in 2017 when the Democrats won both Assembly slots. Pappas said he would “vote as Kip Bateman would vote” to maintain a religious exemption for parents who don’t want to vaccinate their school children.

Zwicker, of Kingston, is a co-sponsor of legislation(A-969) that would remove the religious exemption and said lawmakers need to “follow the science,” which shows that vaccines are safe and that they serve a collective purpose in preventing the spread of childhood illnesses and COVID-19 and thus protecting the greater population.

“Vaccines save lives, ”Zwicker said in the League of Women Voters debate last month. “We have to do everything we can to save lives. Thousands of New Jerseyans have died from COVID 19, tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of Americans in this country, and millions around the world. We have got to do what is right for each other. We have to take care of each other, and we have to stop politicizing vaccines.”

Zwicker, who often says he is the only physicist in the State House, has supported Murphy and his agenda. He chairs the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee and has also been a leader in election and voting reforms, including as prime sponsor of the law that brought early, in-person machine voting to New Jersey beginning this election — some polls in every county will be open for early voting from Oct. 23 through 31. If elected to the four-year Senate term, Zwicker said he plans to focus on the same issues on which he has focused during his three Assembly terms.

Priorities for Zwicker

“Voting, ease of voting is something I want to continue to concentrate on,” he said. “Climate change and clean air, clean water, especially around transportation and environmental justice … And there’s so much more that needs to be done on job creation around high-tech businesses, innovation, all the growth sectors that are much of which is technology-driven, not just pharma and biomedical, but across the board: vehicles, aviation, financial technology, cybersecurity. These are all growing like crazy.”

Pappas served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was known as a staunch conservative. He enthusiastically backed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, singing a song praising independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr that he wrote to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on the floor of the House. It was believed to have contributed to his loss later that year to Democrat Rush Holt. Pappas tried to regain his seat in 2000, but lost the primary to Dick Zimmer, who had given up the seat in 1996 when he ran for U.S. Senate and lost. He worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration during the George W. Bush administration and has served as Bridgewater’s administrator for almost two years. Pappas held campaign fundraisers with former Donald Trump spokesman Sean Spicer, who served as Pappas’ first press secretary when he was in Congress, and with conservative Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas).

Panico and Lukac, who are running with Pappas, both criticized Freiman during the debate for his record, including votes on tax increases and budgets that cut school aid to some districts. Freiman, a former vice president with Prudential Financial finishing his second term in the Legislature, mostly chose to ignore the attacks, saying he and his running mates do not want to run a negative campaign.

“For the past four years, I’ve been working with my colleagues to make New Jersey more affordable and more accessible and a fairer place to live,” said Freiman, 62, of Hillsborough. “As we are recovering from COVID, I don’t believe that getting back to where we were before is good enough. To me, that is the minimum standard … That’s why… I have focused on getting millions of dollars of financial support for our small businesses, while at the same time easing their regulation so they can adjust and adapt to the pandemic. That is why I secured funding for our schools so children will have the resources, including mental health services, so they can achieve their full potential.”

He added that he co-sponsored the legislation that restored the more than $7 million for women’s health services cut by former Gov. Chris Christie and authored “the single largest debt reduction in state history,” a law that created a $3.7 billion fund to pay down debt and fund capital projects, thus eliminating the need to issue new bonds.

Other priorities

Jaffer, 38, said her experience as two-term mayor of Montgomery has given her the skills to work effectively in the Legislature.

“As a member of the Assembly, I will work to guarantee as much prosperity as I can for everyone in this district by pursuing an economic recovery that creates green jobs, promotes civil and human rights and empowers an inclusive public health approach to COVID-19,” said Jaffer, a researcher at Princeton University.

On her campaign website, Jaffer wrote that increased funding for higher education will be another priority, “as NJ students, especially those who are traditionally under-served, have already suffered enough as a result of this pandemic.”

According to his website, Panico has set several education-related priorities, which include increasing access to community college by requiring these schools to accept all New Jersey high school graduates and increasing dual-enrollment opportunities for all students to allow them to earn college degrees or technical certifications while completing their high school education.

Panico, of Readington, said he is running to fix a host of problems facing the state, including high taxes, school funding cuts and the development of high-density, low-income housing that he said has exacerbated flooding.

“I see my friends who are in their 20s and low 30s still living at their parents’ house, because they can’t afford to live in Roy Freiman’s New Jersey,” said Panico, who is also a hot air balloon pilot. “I can think about New Jersey having the … (nation’s)  worst business climate. I think about New Jersey failing in COVID and being the world’s highest per capita death rate.”

Lukac, 53, agreed that the current administration and incumbent legislators made mistakes managing the pandemic, as well as raising taxes and “driving families and businesses” out of the state.

“The residents of New Jersey deserve better, better leadership,” said Lukac, a union electrician and Army veteran. “They deserve to be represented by efficient and effective problem solvers, not people who practice poor judgment and lack action. During the pandemic, we have all witnessed just how badly they have failed you, the ones you pay to keep the lights running. You’re also paying for their mistakes.”

He said that as a two-term Manville councilman, he “stood up to my own party” when he disagreed with them and if elected, Lukac promised, “I’ll be there for you. I’ll defend your rights, your freedoms.”

Two Assembly seats and one Senate seat are on the ballot. Election Day is Nov. 2 but early in-person voting starts Saturday, Oct. 23 and continues through Oct. 31. People can use a mail-in ballot at any time through the close of polls.