NJ Election 2019, Statehouse, Local Races: Live Election Results

NEW JERSEY – Democrats appeared on the verge of losing seats in the New Jersey Statehouse in the Tuesday election, just as Gov. Phil Murphy has struggled to gain support for his agenda. The results of many close state and local races were also still coming after Election night, and they were already providing some surprising results.

On the state level, Democrats lost two seats of their 54-26 majority in the state Assembly as well as a Senate seat, according to unofficial results. Four Democrat incumbents, all from South Jersey, were losing on election night, but two incumbent members of the Assembly, Vince Mazzeo and John Armato, were declared the victors on Thursday, Nov. 14, once mail-in ballots were counted.

The party could also lose a Senate seat once occupied by Democrat Jeff Van Drew, who won election to Congress last year. The District 1 seat is located in a conservative area in South Jersey.

The party had hoped to gain incentive for Murphy to get his signature items – such as marijuana legalization and a millionaire's tax – passed. There also was one state Senate race (see results below).

Murphy reacted to the results at a press conference on Wednesday:

Despite the potential losses, Democrats noted that they still hold strong majorities in the Assembly and Senate, and the election largely affirmed that.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said the election marked the first time Democrats have ever retained at least a 50-plus majority in a legislative mid-term. Democrats hold a 26-13 majority in the state Senate.

“Our success included holding seats in districts that were solidly Republican even several years ago and our aggressive strategy to compete across the state allowed us to make inroads in districts that have been Republican for many decades," he said.

A number of local races in New Jersey communities such as Toms River, Brick, Hoboken and elsewhere were also going to be determined as voters took the polls on a busy Election Day (see below).

Key Statehouse races

Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties: Senate District 1, Assembly Districts 1 and 2: Republicans gained two seats in the two Assembly districts as well as one Senate seat from the region. The primarily Republican area was represented by Democrats, but it's become increasingly more conservative over the years. The District 1 race got headlines recently when the candidates ripped a mailer featuring Republican Antwan McClellan as a racist attack. The Republicans said General Majority PAC, an organization linked to South Jersey power broker and Murphy's opponent George Norcross III, altered McClellan's image. Read more: GOP Claims Mailer 'Darkened' Photo Of Black Ocean City Official

Morris, Somerset and Union counties: Assembly Districts 21, 24 and 25: Republicans appeared on the verge of keeping these seats. These races were close last time, and Democrats spent money on TV ads and other campaign efforts to try to win at least two additional seats that could be favorable to Murphy. The region overlaps with another congressional district that flipped from Republican to Democrat in last year's congressional races. Read more: NJ's 25th District Assembly Race 2019: Real Time Results

Public question

More than 70 percent of voters agreed to support a constitutional amendment to extend the $250 property tax deduction that veterans receive to continuing care retirement centers. The amendment compels the retirement centers to pass the value of the deduction on to veterans in the form of credits or payments.

Local races

Democrats performed well in a number of local races – even in Ocean County, where the results in Toms River were close.

Here are the key municipal and school board races that are expected to have some surprising results (click on the links):

• Asbury Park
• Barnegat
  
• Bellville
• Belmar
• Berkeley
• Bernards Township
• Bloomfield
• Bridgewater
• Brick
• Caldwell
• Chatham
• Cinnaminson
• Cranford
• Fair Lawn
• Glen Rock
• Gloucester Township
• Hackettstown
• Hillsborough
• Hoboken
• Holmdel
• Hopatcong
• Lacey
• Livingston
• Madison
• Manasquan
• Mendham Area
• Middletown
• Millburn
• Moorestown
• Morristown
• North Caldwell
• Nutley
• Ocean City
• Paramus
• Parsippany
• Point Pleasant Beach
• Point Pleasant Boro
• Princeton
• South Brunswick
• South Orange-Maplewood Board Of Education
  
• Summit
• Toms River
  
• Washington Township (Morris)
• Wayne
• West Caldwell
• West Orange
• Westfield
• Woodbridge
• Wyckoff

Here are the Senate and Assembly races, according to The Associated Press ("I" signifies an incumbent), as of 11 a.m. (two people were chosen per Assembly district):

State Senate - District 1

GOP Mike Testa 27,163
Dem Bob Andrzejczak i 23,636

State Assembly - District 1

GOP Erik Simonsen 26,544
GOP Antwan McClellan 25,521
Dem Bruce Land (I) 23,098
Dem Matthew Milam (I) 22,555

State Assembly - District 2 (this was the tally on election night; Mazzeo and Armato were declared winners after mail-in ballots were counted)

GOP Philip Guenther 17,952
GOP John Risley 17,906
Dem Vincent Mazzeo (I) 17,137
Dem John Armato (I) 16,101

State Assembly - District 3

Dem John Burzichelli (I) 23,327
Dem Adam Taliaferro (I) 22,693
GOP Beth Sawyer 19,346
GOP Edward Durr 18,386

State Assembly - District 4

Dem Pal Moriarty (I) 22,347
Dem Gabriela Mosquera (I) 21,920
GOP Pal Dilks 15,748
GOP Stephen Pakradooni 14,806

State Assembly - District 5

Dem William Spearman (I) 21,533
Dem William Moen 20,743
GOP Nicholas Kush 10,711
GOP Kevin Ehret 10,442

State Assembly - District 6

Dem Louis Greenwald (I) 30,166
Dem Pamela Lampitt (I) 29,354
GOP Cynthia Plucinski 13,801
GOP John Papeika 13,612

State Assembly - District 7

Dem Carol Murphy (I) 28,735
Dem Herb Conaway (I) 28,594
GOP Peter Miller 17,348
Ind Kathleen Cooley 1,656

State Assembly - District 8

GOP Jean Stanfield 24,310
GOP Ryan Peters (I) 24,168
Dem Gina LaPlaca 23,141
Dem Mark Natale 22,364
Ind Tom Giangiulio 1,696

State Assembly - District 9

GOP Brian Rumpf (I) 35,190
GOP DiAnne Gove (I) 34,462
Dem Sarah Collins 16,246
Dem Wayne Lewis 15,211

State Assembly - District 10

GOP Gregory McGuckin (I) 31,212
GOP John Catalano 30,345
Dem Eileen Della Volle 18,224
Dem Erin Wheeler 17,899
Ind Vincent Barrella 818
Ind Ian Holmes 653

State Assembly - District 11

Dem Joann Downey (I) 22,482
Dem Eric Houghtaling (I) 22,415
GOP Michael Amoroso 20,171
GOP Matthew Woolley 19,525

State Assembly - District 12

GOP Ronald Dancer (I) 23,866
GOP Robert Clifton (I) 23,173
Dem David Lande 13,909
Dem Malina Guha 13,194

State Assembly - District 13

GOP Gerard Scharfenberger 25,155
GOP Serena DiMaso (I) 24,649
Dem Barbara Singer 17,240
Dem Allison Friedman 17,181

State Assembly - District 14

Dem Wayne DeAngelo (I) 29,734
Dem Daniel Benson (I) 29,012
GOP Thomas Calabrese 19,791
GOP Bina Shah 18,024
Ind Michael Bollentin 1,500

State Assembly - District 15

Dem Verlina Reynolds-Jackson i 22,742
Dem Anthony Verrelli (I) 22,141
GOP Jennifer Williams 9,426
Ind Edward Forchion 2,447
Ind Dioh Williams 1,541

State Assembly - District 16

Dem Andrew Zwicker (I) 26,280
Dem Roy Freiman (I) 25,077
GOP Mark Caliguire 21,606
GOP Christine Madrid 21,387

State Assembly - District 17

Dem Joseph Egan (I) 20,272
Dem Joe Danielsen (I) 20,108
GOP Patricia Badovinac 7,612
GOP Maria Conception Powell 7,592

State Assembly - District 18

Dem Nancy Pinkin (I) 19,431
Dem Robert Karabinchak (I) 18,727
GOP Robert Bengivenga 13,002
GOP Jeffrey Brown 12,349

State Assembly - District 19

Dem Craig Coughlin (I) 17,878
Dem Yvonne Lopez (I) 17,039
GOP Rocco Genova 9,046
GOP Christian Onuoha 8,705
Ind William Cruz 661

State Assembly - District 20

Dem Annette Quijano (I) 13,173
Dem Jamel Holley (I) 12,437
GOP Charles Donnelly 3,496
GOP Ashraf Hanna 3,218

State Assembly - District 21

GOP Jon Bramnick (I) 28,787
GOP Nancy Munoz (I) 28,079
Dem Lisa Mandelblatt 25,452
Dem Stacey Gunderman 24,865
Ind Martin Marks 1,147
Ind Harris Pappas 1,081

State Assembly - District 22

Dem Linda Carter (I) 18,703
Dem James Kennedy (I) 18,099
GOP Patricia Quattrocchi 9,665

State Assembly - District 23

GOP John DiMaio (I) 27,887
GOP Erik Peterson (I) 27,758
Dem Denise King 18,093
Dem Marisa Trofimov 17,969

State Assembly - District 24

GOP Parker Space (I) 30,380
GOP Harold Wirths (I) 28,953
Dem Deana Lykin 14,704
Dem Dan Smith 13,313

State Assembly - District 25

GOP Anthony Bucco (I) 26,848
GOP Brian Bergen 25,552
Dem Lisa Bhimani 23,505
Dem Darcy Draeger 22,850

State Assembly - District 26

GOP BettyLou DeCroce (I) 24,039
GOP Jay Webber (I) 23,771
Dem Christine Clarke 18,345
Dem Laura Fortgang 18,245

State Assembly - District 27

Dem John McKeon (I) 24,131
Dem Mila Jasey (I) 23,389
GOP Michael Dailey 13,487
GOP Mauro Tucci 13,337

State Assembly - District 28

Dem Ralph Caputo (I) 14,478
Dem Cleopatra Tucker (I) 14,247
GOP Joy Bembry-Freeman 2,875
GOP Antonio Pires 2,670
Ind Derrick Ross 548

State Assembly - District 29

Dem Eliana Pintor Marin (I) 7,660
Dem Shanique Davis-Speight i 7,396
GOP John Anello 1,310
GOP Jeannette Veras 1,200
Ind Yolanda Johnson 506
Ind Nichelle Velazquez 432

State Assembly - District 30

GOP Sean Kean (I) 24,810
GOP Edward Thomson (I) 23,078
Dem Steven Farkas 9,781
Dem Yasin Celik 9,391
Ind Hank Schroeder 1,186

State Assembly - District 31

Dem Angela McKnight (I) 15,361
Dem Nicholas Chiaravalloti (I) 13,719
GOP Jason Mushnick 2,949
GOP Mary Kay Palange 2,864

State Assembly - District 32

Dem Angelica Jimenez (I) 12,060
Dem Pedro Mejia (I) 11,500
GOP Ann Carletta 3,017
GOP Francesca Curreli 2,971

State Assembly - District 33

Dem Raj Mukherji (I) 21,210
Dem Annette Chaparro (I) 21,092
GOP Holly Lucyk 3,951
GOP Fabian Rohena 3,602

State Assembly - District 34

Dem Thomas Giblin (I) 11,913
Dem Britnee Timberlake (I) 11,602
GOP Bharat Rana 3,344
GOP Irene DeVita 3,282
Ind Clenard Childress 463

State Assembly - District 35

Dem Benjie Wimberly (I) 13,213
Dem Shavonda Sumter (I) 13,173
GOP Tamer Mamkej 3,909

State Assembly - District 36

Dem Gary Schaer (I) 14,627
Dem Clinton Calabrese (I) 14,543
GOP Foster Lowe 9,097
GOP Khaldoun Androwis 9,079

State Assembly - District 37

Dem Gordon Johnson (I) 19,494
Dem Valerie Vainieri Huttle (I) 19,368
GOP Angela Hendricks 7,448
GOP Gino Tessaro 7,298
Lib Claudio Belusic 482

State Assembly - District 38

Dem Lisa Swain (I) 19,823
Dem Christopher Tully (I) 19,505
GOP Christopher DiPiazza 16,833
GOP Michael Kazimir 16,690

State Assembly - District 39

GOP Holly Schepisi (I) 27,125
GOP Robert Auth (I) 25,494
Dem John Birkner 21,434
Dem Gerald Falotico 20,989

State Assembly - District 40

GOP Kevin Rooney (I) 21,117
GOP Christopher DePhillips (I) 20,576
Dem Julie O'Brien 15,872
Dem Maria Martini Cordonnier 15,706