One of the most important national storylines of the 2026 election is entrenched incumbents of both parties facing serious primary challengers, but what may be a wave in other states has turned into a trickle in New Jersey: only three of the state’s current incumbents will face any opponents in the June 2 primary.
The most serious of those challenges is coming in the 8th district, where Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) faces Mussab Ali, the former president of the Jersey City Board of Education. Menendez’s 2024 primary was an expensive and acrimonious affair, and the 2026 race could go down that same path.
Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) will face contested Democratic primaries as well: Pallone from progressive activists Katie Bansil and John Hsu, each of whom has been in the race for months, and McIver from Lawrence Poster, a newcomer with no apparent campaign presence.
Lastly, there’s Analilia Mejia, who isn’t a member of the House yet but probably will be by the June primary, assuming she wins the April 16 special election for the 11th district. Several prominent Democrats considered challenging Mejia for a full term, but they all decided against it; instead, her primary opposition will consist of Chatham Borough Councilman Justin Strickland, former Morristown Mayor and perennial candidate Donald Cresitello, and tech engineer Joseph Lewis.
As for every other incumbent in the state’s delegation seeking re-election, they’re set to win in June unopposed – and given that most of the state’s districts tilt towards one party or another, that likely guarantees many of them re-election in November.
Three announced primary challengers to House incumbents – Lonnie Affrime against Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), Shawn Scott against Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran), and Rob Canfield against Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) – failed to file petitions yesterday. Canfield said in a statement that he fell short of the 500-signature requirement, but that he intends to come back and try again against Smith in 2028.
“Over the next two years, we’re going to grow this movement, expand our grassroots network, and come back stronger, more organized, and ready to win,” he said.
Both of U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s primary challengers, former Hunterdon Democratic official Chris Fields and gadfly Lisa McCormick, similarly failed to turn in the necessary 2,500 signatures to run against him. Fields, who made a show of competing (or attempting to compete) at county conventions across the state, said on social media that his campaign – which continued collecting signatures outside the Division of Elections right up until the filing deadline – fell just short of the threshold.
“This time we didn’t overcome the wall that was built to stop unbought candidates,” Fields said.
Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), and Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), meanwhile, never faced any declared primary opposition at all. Gottheimer hasn’t faced a Democratic challenger since 2020 despite being one of his party’s most moderate House members; as for Pou, Paterson Mayor André Sayegh floated a campaign against her last year but decided against it.