Van Drew leads Kennedy by 14,670 votes in NJ-2

Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew expanded his lead tonight to 14,670 in his bid for re-election to a second term against Democrat Amy Kennedy after new mail-in ballots were counted in Cape May, Salem, Gloucester and Ocean counties.

The race remains to close to call, but Van Drew has increased his lead since election night by 5,170 votes.

Van Drew is now ahead of Kennedy, 154,406 to 139,736.

The good news for Kennedy is that the counties which she won, Atlantic and Cumberland, have not announced any new vote counts today.

Van Drew expanded is total 3,824 votes in Cape May, his home county, while Kennedy received an extra 1,415.

Gloucester County added 3,634 more votes for Van Drew and 1,940 more for Kennedy.

In Ocean County, Van Drew picked up 453 votes and Kennedy’s tally increased by 199.

Earlier this evening, the New Jersey Globe reported that Van Drew gained 1,546 more votes in Salem County, while Kennedy added 958.

No less than 55,328 votes remain uncounted in New Jersey’s 2nd district.  That’ the lowest possible amount as officials continue to tally the number of provisional ballots and late arriving ballots from the U.S. Postal Service.

Atlantic County has not reported any new results since Tuesday night, and there have been no additional votes in added in Cumberland since late Wednesday night.