Jeff Van Drew, who was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 2018 and switched parties late last year in solidarity with President Donald Trump, is now projected to win re-election to a second term as a Republican.
Van Drew now leads Kennedy by 17,375 votes, 168,770 to 151,395.
While no less than 32,091 ballots remain uncounted, Van Drew’s post-election night surge means that Kennedy no longer has a path to winning the 2nd district congressional seat.
The release of 16,599 more votes in Atlantic County reduced Kennedy’s election night margin of 4,736 votes to 2,813.
Van Drew is 12,150 votes in front of Kennedy in Cape May, his home county and where he has spent the last 30 years as a mayor and legislator. He has racked up a pluralities of 3,426 votes in Gloucester, 5,824 in Ocean, and 3,034 in Salem. He’s also ahead by 230 votes in Burlington and 616 in Camden, which encompass small portions of the NJ-2.
Kennedy, a former public school teacher and a member of one of America’s most prominent political families, has a 5,092-vote lead in Cumberland.