With 100% of districts in Hudson County now reported, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla expanded his lead earlier this afternoon to 108 votes against freshman Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (D-Jersey City) in the Democratic primary for a 32nd district Assembly seat.
Assemblyman William Sampson (D-Bayonne) expanded his lead to 202 votes over his former running mate, Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Jersey City) in 31st district Democratic primary.
There are 698 provisional ballots and 70 additional ballots to be processed in the 31st, and 699 provisionals and 74 ballots in the 32nd. Not all will necessarily be accepted.
Former Murphy administration official Katie Brennan won the 32nd district primary with 7,076 votes; Bhalla is at 6,788 and Ramirez is at 6,680. Three other candidates are not in contention: Jersey City Councilman Yousef Saleh (5,329), Hoboken Public Library Director Jennie Pu (5,331), and Crystal Fonseca (5,135).
Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker captured the Democratic nomination in the 31st district with 8,780 votes. Sampson leads Stamato, 7,439 to 7,237. A fourth candidate, Bayonne Councilwoman Jacqueline Weimmer, has 7,046.
Assemblyman John Allen (D-Hoboken) chose not to seek re-election to a second term this year.
Ramirez, first elected two years ago, ran with Saleh. Pu and Fonseca ran with the backing of the Hudson County Democratic Organization. Brennan and Bhalla were bracketed together but ran separate campaigns.
The 31st has three districts in Bayonne and eight in Jersey City that remain uncounted. The 32nd has three Jersey City districts that are not in the count.
Jersey City makes up about two-thirds of the 32nd district, and Hoboken comprises the rest. The remainder of Jersey City, along with Bayonne and Kearny, are in the 31st.