Hutchison, Miller win in LD4

Freshmen Assemblymen Dan Hutchison (D-Gloucester Twp) and Cody Miller (D-Monroe) secured a second term on Tuesday, the New Jersey Globe projects, and will return to Trenton with State Sen. Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Twp). 

As of 11:40 p.m., Hutchison and Miller led teacher Amanda Esposito and Winslow school board member Jerry McManus by a collective 55.4%-44.7% in the 4th, which includes a stretch of Atlantic, Camden, and Gloucester counties.

The 2022 round of redistricting shifted the 4th about 6 points to the right, at least based on 2021 gubernatorial results. Instead of seeking re-election in the redrawn district, State Sen. Fred Madden (D-Washington) and Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera (D-Gloucester Township) chose to retire in 2023, and Moriarty ran for Senate. He won, and so did his running mates, Hutchison, a Gloucester Township councilman, and Miller, a former Monroe Township school board member.

This is Esposito’s second time on the ticket in the 4th; she ran in 2023 alongside former Buena Councilman Matt Walker, but they lost to the Moriarty team of Democrats.

In Trenton, Miller and Hutchison have helped spearhead visible legislation on affordability and housing, perennial issues for vulnerable legislators. The incumbents held off a primary from two candidates backed by Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop: community activist Vonetta Hawkins and Brian Everett, an assistant dean at Rutgers University-Camden.

Since beating back a primary challenge from a MAGA challenger, Esposito and McManus have since behaved mostly like traditional battleground Republicans, conservative but not aggressively MAGA. The 4th has voted against Donald Trump in all three of his presidential elections, though he cut down the margin to less than 2 points last year.

Democrats enjoyed a spending advantage. The Miller-Hutchison campaign spent nearly $650k, while their GOP challengers have been limited to about $75k. A super PAC affiliated with South Jersey power broker George Norcross has also spent more than half a million dollars protecting the incumbents, and GOP PACs have offered little help.

Republicans were relying on coattails from Jack Ciattarelli — but in the end, it wasn’t enough.