Chris Smith Wins Again In NJ 4th District, AP Says

Updated, 10:15 p.m.

NEW JERSEY — Republican Chris Smith has won his 22nd term in the U.S. House of Representatives, capturing New Jersey's 4th District seat, according to the Associated Press.

Smith had 167,210 votes according to unofficial tallies from Ocean and Monmouth county election officials. That was more than double the votes received by Democrat Matthew Jenkins, who had 77,085, according to the unofficial tallies.

The remaining four candidates — Jason Cullen of the Libertarian Party, and independents Pamela Daniels, David Schmidt, and Hank Schroeder — were well behind.

The results remain unofficial until certified by the county clerks.

For Smith, who has faced few challengers over the last 10 years and has drawn solid support from Republican voters, the 2022 campaign has been markedly different. He faced a field of as many as six challengers in the Republican primary in June. That campaign was filled with accusations that Smith was a "RINO" — Republican in name only — because he had opposed former President Donald Trump on several issues. Among them: Smith voted to certify the 2020 election and voted in favor of the Biden administration's $1 trillion infrastructure package.

Since winning the Republican primary in June, Smith has had to contend with a wide field of challengers for the general election. Jenkins has zeroed in on Smith's abortion stance, including Smith's support of Sen. Lindsay Graham's bill that would ban abortions nationwide after the 15th week — a bill that calls anything after 15 weeks a "late-term" abortion.

Cullen and Schmidt have campaigned on conservative stances on several issues, including gun control. Schroeder's positions lean more toward Democratic stances, and Daniels is more centrist on financial matters while advocating for LGBTQ issues.

Despite those challengers, Smith was expected to win the district easily because of the Republican-heavy towns in Ocean County that make up the bulk of the district. Those voters came through for Smith as anticipated; he received 110,993 votes in Ocean County, nearly double the 56,431 that Jenkins received, according to the unofficial tallies. Smith won Ocean County with 70 percent of the vote in 2020, and his results Tuesday mirrored that.

The unofficial vote totals for all six candidates are as follows. The Monmouth County total is first, followed by Ocean, and the total received:

• Christopher Smith 56,431 + 110,993 = 167,424
• Matthew Jenkins 33,332 + 43,833 = 77,167
• Pamela R. Daniels 205 + 210 = 415
• Jason Cullen 742 + 1,080 = 1,822
• David Schmidt 688 + 461 = 1,149
• Hank Schroeder 401 + 478 = 879

According to a New Jersey voter registration breakdown, there are 217,263 unaffiliated voters, 131,310 registered Democrats, and 209,261 registered Republicans among the 564,864 voters in the district.

The 4th Congressional District (see the new map here) includes the following towns: In Ocean County, parts of Lacey and Berkeley townships, all of Manchester, Lakehurst, Plumsted, Jackson, Lakewood, Brick, Toms River, South Toms River, Lavallette, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park, Ocean Gate, Pine Beach, Beachwood, Mantoloking, Bay Head, Point Pleasant Beach, Point Pleasant Boro, and in Monmouth County, Brielle, Manasquan, Sea Girt, Spring Lake Heights, Spring Lake, Lake Como, Belmar, Wall, Howell, Farmingdale, Colts Neck, Middletown, Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury Township, Eatontown, Interlaken, Ocean Township, and part of Freehold Township.