Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents have already voted in the 2026 election – and most of them are Democrats, early numbers show.
There have been 705,077 mail-in and early in-person votes cast in New Jersey as of Oct. 28, NBC News reported, sharing the following breakdown by party: Democrat (62%), Republican (21%) and "Other" (17%).
There were 2,572,254 Democrats, 1,686,614 Republicans and 2,391,969 unaffiliated voters registered in New Jersey on Oct. 1, state data shows.
This year's early rush to the polls has been partly fueled by a well-stocked Congressional ballot: all 12 of the state's seats in the House and Sen. Cory Booker are up for re-election.
President Donald Trump has endorsed the state's three Republican House members: Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith and Tom Kean Jr.
The early numbers have caused split reactions among GOP leaders in New Jersey, however.
"In speaking with some other Republican chairs throughout the state, there's a concern about it," said Ocean County GOP Chair George Gilmore told the New Jersey Monitor, adding that "people are a little nervous."
Cape May GOP Chairman Mike Donohue said the race is far from over, comparing the early numbers to "calling a game in the second inning."
On the flip side of the aisle, Democratic State Chair LeRoy Jones also turned to a sports metaphor, telling the Monitor that "it's a full court press all the way."
"I don't want to get ahead of my skis here," Jones said. "I'm cautiously optimistic."
A new poll from Fairleigh Dickenson University found that likely voters in New Jersey are favoring Democratic congressional candidates over Republicans by a wide margin – 55 to 32 percent – partly driven by concerns over affordability and gas prices.
According to the FDU poll, gains made by Republicans in the 2024 presidential election among Hispanic and younger voters have been largely erased, and the number of voters in the state who identify as "MAGA" has dropped dramatically, even in the past few months.
Early voting and mail-in ballots have been seeing more interest across the Garden State in recent years, but the numbers have spiked for the 2026 midterm, pundits say.
Umichvoter, a political commentary and election data account, reported that New Jersey saw a whopping 32.1 percent jump from last year when early in-person voting began on Oct. 24.
New Jersey isn't the only state seeing a surge of early voting this year.
On the national stage, early voter turnout is soaring in several swing states compared with the last midterm election, a recent analysis from the Associated Press found. The increased numbers of early voters include Kansas (103%), Texas (74%), Maine (39%), North Carolina (38%) and Ohio (30%).
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