NJ Election Results 2017: Gopal Ousts Beck In 11th District

FREEHOLD, NJ — Republican Jennifer Beck had her bid for a third full term in the New Jersey Senate rejected on Tuesday, as 11th District voters chose Democratic challenger Vin Gopal by more than 3,500 votes.

According to unofficial tallies, Gopal, the former Monmouth County Democratic chairman, garnered 28,750 votes to Beck's 25,108. She was the only Republican senator in Monmouth County to be defeated on Tuesday.

Democratic voters also came out and supported the 11th District Assembly challengers, with Joann Downey (28,691) and Eric Houghtaling (28,386) beating Republicans Michael Whelan (23,487) and Robert Acerra (23,809).

Beck joined the state Assembly in 2006 and moved on to the state Senate in 2008, and had successfully fought for additional funding for the Freehold and Red Bank borough school districts, which have been faced with extreme overcrowding issues due to population growth.

However, in the days leading up to the election, advertisements deriding Beck for doing an about-face on a bill she sponsored and initially voted for that would have alerted police if a person with a documented mental illness sought judicial approval for a gun permit, but then refused to go along with an override of Gov. Chris Christie's veto of the bill.

Gopal, 32, who lives in Long Branch, was raised in Freehold and has a bachelor's degree in political science from Penn State. He is the managing partner of Direct Development, LLC, and his Gopal for Senate website says he spent years building his business and now has 14 employees, based out of his Tinton Falls and Hazlet offices.

Beck, 50, initally joined the Senate representing the 12th District, but shifted to the 11th District following the statewide redistricting after the 2010 Census.

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