Carter, Kennedy win in LD22

Assemblywoman Linda Carter (D-Plainfield) and Assemblyman James Kennedy (D-Rahway) have won re-election in the 22nd legislative district, the New Jersey Globe projects, easily retaining the district represented in the Senate by Senate President Nick Scutari (D-Linden).

As of 11:58 p.m. and with nearly all votes counted, Carter and Kennedy have a 68%-32% lead over Republicans Lisa Fabrizio, the Linden GOP chairwoman, and Jermaine Caulder.

Kennedy, a former longtime mayor of Rahway, was elected to the Assembly in 2015 after Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) retired; Carter joined him in 2018 following the death of Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield). Neither has faced a serious challenge for their diverse Union County seat in years.

That didn’t change this year: no Democratic primary challengers stepped up to run against them, and Republicans haven’t had a shot at the district since it was heavily redrawn at the turn of the century.

As for Scutari, he’s had an eventful few years since ascending to the Senate Presidency, successfully defending his Senate majority in 2023 and shepherding thorny bills on campaign finance reform, property tax relief, and public records access into law. He faces little threat to his power this cycle, though; only one Senate seat (a safely blue seat in Paterson) is on the ballot, and a supermajority of Senate Democrats have already said they support him for another term as leader.

Of course, some things will be changing for Scutari: after four years of a largely positive relationship with term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, he’ll soon have a new occupant of the governor’s office to get used to.