Although all 120 legislative seats will be decided in Tuesday’s elections, turnout is expected to be low. Some races have heated up but election strategists believe that low turnout could be the deciding factor in close races.
Republicans remain hopeful of clawing back control from Democrats in at least one of the legislative chambers and try keep the momentum going after gaining seven seats two years ago.
“I think in terms of what Republicans will see as a victory, it’s picking up at least a seat or two at a minimum…,” Republican strategist Bill Palatucci said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “By the way, this would be the third cycle in a row that Republicans picked up seats in the Legislature … I think that would be quite an accomplishment for the Republicans in such a blue state.”
Culture-war issues have dominated, including “parental rights,” book bans and abortions.
“I think Democrats have done a pretty poor job of messaging this cycle,” said Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky. “They let the Republicans determine the messaging. They could have talked about LGBTQ students. But instead, they allowed Republicans to define that issue as a parental choice issue, which obviously is not helpful to Democrats.”
Roginsky added that “Democrats have done a very good job with vote-by-mail,” noting, “So the problem for Republicans, of course, is that Donald Trump has instilled in them that early voting is something taboo and something you should not worry about or think about. So they better hope they get a good turnout at the polls.”
