Gottheimer wins

Rep. Josh Gottheimer secured a second term in Congress, beating out Republican John McCann in a historically-Republican district.

Gottheimer beat McCann by about 12 points, winning 148,021 votes to McCann’s 116,505.

The congressman has made a name for himself in his first term as a bipartisan. He serves as co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of roughly 40 House representatives that aims to block partisan gridlock in the state’s capital.

His challenger had little name recognition and almost no money coming into the race, and what little voters heard of McCann would more likely than not have come from attack ads in a bruising primary between him and perennial candidate Steve Lonegan.

McCann aired his own series of ads in that contest, and they drained his campaign war chest coming into the general election.

Ignoring that, Gottheimer, a legendary New Jersey fundraiser, raised 10 times as much cash as McCann, drawing in $6.6 million to McCann’s roughly $661,000.

It’s no surprise then that the congressman outspent his opponent, putting at least $1.8 million into the race. McCann spent pretty much everything he raised.

Gottheimer, on the other hand, still has $4.8 million in the bank.