Today is Election Day, the end of congressional races that got progressively nastier and more expensive in key New Jersey districts where Democrats are fighting to hold seats in a midterm election to determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for in-person voting. Mail-in ballots can still be completed, provided the ballot is mailed and postmarked Tuesday or placed in a secure ballot drop box by 8 p.m.
While congressional seats top the ticket, two state legislative seats and hundreds more county, municipal and school board slots are also on the ballot, with some of those more bitterly fought than in past years.
District 7 still center of attention
Attention in New Jersey and nationally remains focused on the 7th District, which stretches from Sussex County to Union, where two-term Democrat Tom Malinowski is considered at greatest risk of losing his seat of any member of the state’s congressional delegation.
In trying to lock in nine Democratic districts, the Democrats on the state’s redistricting committee shored up other swing districts at Malinowski’s expense. As he seeks reelection, Malinowski faces an electorate with 17,000 more Republicans than Democrats. He has campaigned aggressively across the district to try to overcome the deficit, while his opponent, Tom Kean Jr., has held very few public events and refused most interviews with reporters. Although Federal Election Commission data shows Malinowski has raised twice as much as Kean, massive infusions of spending by national GOP groups mean Malinowski is trailing in total spent by about $400,000, the FEC and OpenSecrets data show.
In the 5th District, Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer had a 10-to-1 money advantage over Republican challenger Frank Pallotta going into the last weekend of the campaign.
As in other competitive races, the dominant issues were abortion, inflation, the economy and crime. Polling showed most voters’ top concern was the rising cost of living. Democrats made abortion a major issue, emphasizing the Republicans’ opposition to abortion in some or all cases. Republicans countered by blaming the incumbents for the rise in car thefts and property crime.
Another race believed to be close is in the 3rd District, covering parts of Burlington, Mercer and Monmouth counties. Rep. Andy Kim, another Democrat who first won in the 2018 Democratic wave in New Jersey, is facing South Jersey businessman Bob Healey. Healey loaned his campaign $2.3 million. Another $3.2 million in outside spending comes from a group largely funded by Healey’s mother. That makes $1.6 million more spent to advance Healey’s campaign than Kim’s, according to campaign spending data.
Sherrill spends big in 11th
The candidate who had spent the most as of Friday was Rep. Mikie Sherrill, elected in 2018, flipping the long-Republican 11th District, which covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. Sherrill spent $7.6 million. Another $5.1 million came from outside groups to support her and oppose Republican Paul DeGroot, for a total of $12.7 million. DeGroot, meanwhile, spent little more than $500,000. Like Kim, Sherrill’s chances of winning were downgraded by one of the political-rating websites last week, though she is still considered by others likely to win.
As in the 7th District, the race in the 5th is a rematch from 2020. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who is in his third term in office, faces Republican Frank Pallotta, a businessman and conservative. The northernmost district spans parts of Bergen, Passaic and Sussex counties. Including outside spending, Gottheimer, one of the most prolific fundraisers in the House, had a 10-to-1 money advantage over Pallotta going into the last weekend of the campaign.
It is likely that the closest congressional races will not be called Tuesday.
New Jersey will elect a new congressman in the 8th District based in Hudson County, where the favorite is Rob Menendez, son of the U.S. senator. More than half of registered voters in the district are Democrats and Menendez has only token opposition from Republican Marcus Arroyo, who has not filed any financial reports with the FEC.
More than 725,000 people had voted early as of last Thursday, about 11% of the 6.5 million who are registered. Almost 60% of those who voted early were Democrats. Early in-person voting lasted nine days and ended Sunday. People can still bring a mail-in ballot to the post office in time to be postmarked today or place it in a drop box through 8 p.m. tonight, when the polls close.
Because of the popularity of mail-in voting and the variations among counties about reporting their early voting tallies, it is likely that the closest congressional races will not be called Tuesday. Residents will have to wait several days at least until all mail-in and provisional votes are counted before a winner can be announced.
NJ Spotlight News will post results tonight after the polls close. Live election night coverage begins at 8 p.m. on NJ PBS and streamed on NJ Spotlight News.
