WASHINGTON — Rebecca Bennett led the way for Democrats to have a very good night in New Jersey, part of a blue wave that swept much of the country’s congressional midterm election.
Bennett convincingly topped incumbent Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. in the 7th congressional district, with the Associated Press calling the race before 10 p.m. as Bennett led Kean by more than 20 points.
Not long after, Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew conceded in his bid for reelection in the 2nd district to Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock, although that race was not called by AP yet.
Nationally, Democrats appear on track to gain dozens of seats in the House and potentially win the Senate, a far-fetched prospect months ago.
“Tonight we have sent a message,” Bennett said at her celebratory election night party in Bridgewater. “We are not giving up on this country. We are getting to work.”
New Jersey survived its own test in the election, with polling taking place with no significant disturbance and voters coming out in droves on a pleasant autumn day.
New Jersey had been among President Donald Trump’s early foils this year after Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed that, under the prior administration, more than 6,000 noncitizens had been registered to vote in the state.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said it sent election monitors, whose abilities to intervene in state voting matters are limited, to all 50 states. In New Jersey, monitors would be sent to Bergen, Middlesex and Union counties, DOJ said (opens in new tab).
The Trump administration has also sued New Jersey and dozens of other states for their voting rolls. But by all accounts, there were no irregularities or incidents of note in New Jersey.
“Federal monitors have watched our polling places, and they generally are unobtrusive and not noticed,” Sherrill told NJ PBS on Monday. “If anything different happens, then we will probably be in court.”
After the polls closed at 8 p.m., races were called in quick succession for a slate of Democratic incumbents, including Sen. Cory Booker and Reps. Donald Nocross (D-1st), Herb Conaway (D-3rd), LaMonica McIver (D-10th) and Analilia Mejia (D-11th).
Trained Army surgeon Adam Hamawy, who emerged from a competitive June primary to succeed Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey’s lone appropriator in Congress, won the 12th District.
The results of the midterm elections will define the scope of Trump’s remaining time in the White House, a two-year period when he will likely have lost control of Congress and possess little incentive to engage with Capitol Hill to pass substantive legislation since he cannot run again by law.
New Jersey’s 2nd and 7th congressional districts where Republicans are incumbents were in the national mix, both considered competitive if not too close to call.
Democrats were banking that the ongoing war against Iran, the increased gasoline and diesel prices that’s come with it and the overall high cost of living in the state will be sufficient closing arguments to topple Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-7th) and upset Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd), an ally of Trump’s.
Democrats and left-leaning outside groups in recent weeks surged (opens in new tab) money into Van Drew’s seat, which includes much of South Jersey, in an attempt to defeat their one-time colleague and elect challenger Zack Mullock, the Cape May mayor.
A liberal super PAC called Project 218 — an apparent reference to the number of seats needed to govern the House — allocated more than $1 million on a television ad against Van Drew.
The narrator attacks Van Drew for his support of a “stupid endless war” in Iran as well as supporting Trump’s hardline anti-immigration crackdown. “It’s time. Dump Jeff Van Drew.”
Van Drew is a reliable Republican vote, though he is known for crossing party lines on some issues, including health care, unions and animals.
The remaining nine running for reelection to the House – all Democrats – are expected to dominate their races, including Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th), who is likely to become chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, a panel with sweeping authority over health, technology and industrial policy. Other high-ranking New Jersey lawmakers include Rep. Donald Norcross (D-4th), currently No. 4 in his party on the House committee with jurisdiction over the Pentagon.
In early spring and into the summer, Democrats in the Senate and the House began considering and then running “tabletop exercises” — drills about how to prepare for extreme scenarios on and after Election Day, such as intimidation, sabotage or even violence at the polls.
“We need to prepare for everything that we know is on the table, and then once we feel we’ve prepared for that, we need to expand the university of things that we’re preparing for to a truly worst-case scenario, and then prepare for that,” said Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8th) said in a recent interview.
Menendez ticked through a list of potential risks, such as Trump declaring a national emergency.
“Going through and having both inside and outside folks think about the different issues,” he said. “What the different avenues are for challenging in court, having those things prepared, things that we can do in advance, things that are on our radar, things that are off the radar that need to be on our radar.”
Janice Park, of Lebanon, where Kean is facing a tough challenge from first-time candidate Rebecca Bennet, voted Tuesday morning. “I am an independent but I voted Democrat all across the board,” she told NJ State House News Service while walking to her car.
At St. John’s Church in Turnersville, part of Gloucester County, Sal Principato, a retired lawyer, said he voted to oust Republicans.
“My primary motivation is that I don’t want to see Mr. Trump or any of his people in office anymore,” Principato said in an interview with NJ State House News Service. “So I wanted to come over here to make my voice count.”
Brian Broad, a salesperson from Blackwood, also in Gloucester County, was quick with a list of his reasons to vote: “The war in Iran, the economy, inflation, immigration.”
New Jersey’s highest-profile member of Congress, incumbent Democratic Sen. Cory Booker was expected to cruise to re-election, just as he did in 2020, when he won with 57.2% of the vote and a second term.
Booker ran in 2020 for the White House. In a September interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, Booker said he would make a decision after the midterms.
“I think we need to renew the very idea of America,” he said.
Before Election Day, the Trump administration sued dozens of states including New Jersey for their voter rolls, filed lawsuits against Alaska and California to challenge their election processes and tried to drum up criminal cases of noncitizens voting.
At a September political convention in Dallas, Trump asked the audience to raise their right hands to swear an oath to him before criticizing Democrats.
“I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to cheat like hell like they do,” Trump said. The audience laughed.
NJPBS correspondent Sean Sullivan and the NJ State House News Service, a non-profit news outlet, contributed to this article.