Good morning, New Jersey.
It’s 6 a.m., and the polls for the 2024 general election – which in New Jersey means voting for president, U.S. Senate, 12 U.S. House seats, 52 county offices, and hundreds of local offices and school board seats – are now open. They’ll stay open until 8 p.m., although as always, if you’re in line to vote when the polls close, stay in line.
New Jersey is expected to go blue on a statewide level, supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency against former President Donald Trump and electing Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) to the Senate against Curtis Bashaw. The Garden State hasn’t voted for a Republican for president since 1988 or elected a Republican senator since 1972.
It’s not so easy to make a concrete prediction in the 7th congressional district, where first-term Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) faces a spirited challenge from Democrat Sue Altman. Polls in the swingy district have been close, both sides have spent millions of dollars on the race, and control of the closely divided House could hang in the balance.
Thanks in large part to the Democratic-drawn congressional map that was put in place in 2021, none of New Jersey’s other 11 House races are looking hypercompetitive. Still, some fresh faces are set to join the delegation: Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Delran) in Kim’s 3rd district, State Sen. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) in the late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson)’s 9th district, and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), who won a special election in September, in the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark)’s 10th district.
Of course, these predictions will only become reality if voters choose to make them so. And a huge number of New Jerseyans have already made their voices heard: as of yesterday’s data, 1,964,710 New Jersey voters had already cast their ballots via mail-in and early in-person voting, with millions more hopefully set to join them at the polls today.
If you need any help figuring out where and how to vote, CLICK HERE.
If you’d like to learn more about this year’s races and read the New Jersey Globe’s 2024 Voter’s Guide, CLICK HERE.
Happy voting.