WASHINGTON (AP) — New Jersey voters will choose candidates Tuesday to replace Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who is on trial in New York federal court on corruption charges and has chosen not to run in the Democratic primary. State.
Menendez, who has held the seat for more than 18 years, has said he would consider running in the general election as an independent if he is acquitted.
The presidential primaries will also be on the program, as well as the primary elections for the United States House of Representatives.
The prospect of an open Senate seat has already had cascading effects in the state. Early clashes between first lady Tammy Murphy, who has since suspended her campaign, and front-runner Rep. Andy Kim led to a decision that broke down the party line for at least the primary. Party line is a New Jersey-specific ballot design that displays candidates supported by the county’s parties in one column, which opponents say creates an advantage for party-backed candidates.
With the party line gone, Kim appears to be consolidating his support across the state. He will face union leader Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm in the primary.
On the Republican side, the Senate primary features four candidates: hotelier and top Republican fundraiser Curtis Bashaw, Navy veteran Albert Harshaw, former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy and Borough Mayor of Mendham, Christine Serrano Glassner. Serrano Glassner was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
By running for Senate, Kim is leaving the 3rd Congressional District seat he has held since 2019. The race to replace him has attracted five Democratic candidates. Kim ousted the Republican president from this district in 2018 in one of the closest midterm elections, but the district has since been redrawn after the census to be more favorable to Democrats, so the candidate who emerges of the primary will probably be favored. in autumn.
The other U.S. House race to watch is in the 8th District, where first-term Rep. Rob Menendez, son of the current senator, faces a strong challenge from the Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Bhalla nearly matched Menendez in fundraising, with $1.625 million to the incumbent’s $1.642 million, in the suburban New York district.
Trump, Republican and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, unofficially sealed his party nominations on March 12. They are both on the ballot Tuesday and can gain more delegates. For Trump, Tuesday marks the first primaries since he became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes.
New Jersey holds its gubernatorial and state legislative elections in odd years, so there are only federal elections in this primary.
Here is an overview of what awaits you during primary evening:
PRIMARY DAY
The New Jersey presidential and state primaries will take place on Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
WHAT THE VOTE CONTAINS
The Associated Press will report vote totals for the Democratic presidential primary, as well as 19 contested primaries for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Trump is running unopposed in the Republican presidential primary, so vote totals will not be released. The Democratic ballot includes Biden, anti-abortion activist Terrisa Bukovinac and, in most counties, an uncommitted option.
WHO CAN VOTE
Registered party members can only vote in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats cannot vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters can participate in either primary.
RULES FOR ATTRIBUTION OF DELEGATES
The 126 Democratic delegates pledged by New Jersey are distributed according to standard national party rules. Twenty-eight at-large delegates are allocated in proportion to the statewide vote, as are 14 PLEO, or “party leaders and elected officials,” delegates. The state’s 12 congressional districts have a total of 84 delegates at stake, which are distributed proportionally to the voting results in each district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for statewide delegates, and 15% of the vote in a congressional district to qualify for statewide delegates. this constituency.
There are 12 delegates at stake in the Republican presidential primary. All delegates will be awarded to the winner of the statewide vote. Most states that hold primaries within 45 days of the national convention have agreed that their delegates will not be tied to any particular candidate, per Republican National Committee rules. However, New Jersey chose to keep its delegates tied, prompting the RNC to reduce its total number of delegates from nearly 50 to just 12.
DECISION NOTES
In the presidential race, early indications that Biden is winning statewide at a level consistent with the overwhelming margins seen in most other elections this year could be enough to determine the winner.
Efforts are being made to get Democratic voters to vote “Uncommitted” to protest Biden’s policies regarding the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Uncommitted candidates will be on the ballot statewide, except for a portion of Ocean County, where supporters did not present enough delegates.
In the 8th Congressional District, the key county to watch will be Hudson. Bhalla is currently mayor of the fourth largest municipality in the county, so his margin in that county will be important to his overall performance in the district. The district also includes Essex and Bergen counties.
In the 3rd Congressional District, most votes will come from Burlington County. The district also includes parts of Mercer and Monmouth counties.
The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner when it determines that no scenario exists that would allow trailing candidates to close the gap. If no race has been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
New Jersey allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive up to six days later, so the number of mail-in ballots cast in the primary won’t be known until the 10th. June. delay a race announcement.
New Jersey does not have automatic recounts, but candidates and voters can request and pay for one. The cost of the recount is refunded if the result changes.
WHAT PARTICIPATION AND VOTING IN ADVANCE LOOK LIKE
As of May 1, there were 6,549,568 registered voters in New Jersey. Of these, 38% were Democrats and 24% Republicans.
In the 2022 primary elections, turnout was approximately 7% of registered voters in the Democratic primary and 5% in the Republican primary. In this election, 49% of the votes cast in the Democratic primary and 20% of the votes cast in the Republican primary were cast before Election Day.
As of May 28, a total of 247,807 people had voted before Election Day. About 77% of these ballots were cast in the Democratic primary and 23% in the Republican primary.
HOW LONG DOES VOTE COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?
In the 2022 primary, the AP first announced results at 8:04 p.m. ET, four minutes after polls closed. The election night count concluded around 2 a.m. ET with approximately 90% of the total votes counted.
ARE WE THERE ALREADY?
As of Tuesday, there will be 41 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, 76 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and 154 days until the general election in November.
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Follow AP coverage of the 2024 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
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