Coughlin, Lopez win in LD19

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Woodbridge) and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez (D-Perth Amboy) have won re-election in the 19th legislative district, the New Jersey Globe projects, overwhelmingly winning a district that has become less of a Democratic stronghold in recent years.

As of 10:25 p.m. and with nearly every vote counted, Coughlin and Lopez each have 32%, while Republicans Maria García and Marilyn Colon each have 18%.

Coughlin’s 52-28 majority in the Assembly is also on the ballot tonight; thus far, it looks like Democrats are on track to expand that majority even further and pad Coughlin’s Speakership, though a few districts remain uncalled.

On paper, the 19th district – a Middlesex County seat which includes Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, and Sayreville – could be competitive in a general election. Gov. Phil Murphy carried it by a modest margin in 2021, and Kamala Harris only won it by a few hundred votes over Donald Trump last year.

Republicans, however, never put any energy or money into flipping the district or even giving Coughlin a real race, running two candidates who had already lost in landslides in 2023. That freed up Coughlin and the Middlesex Democratic organization to focus on other races around the state instead of on the campaign for the 19th district.

Coughlin first became Speaker in 2018 at the very beginning of the Murphy administration, and has guided his chamber through the many controversies and complex issues of the last eight years: the millionaire’s tax, the codification of abortion rights, the Elections Transparency Act, the property tax relief programs, the Open Public Records Act overhaul. When he was re-elected to a fourth term as Speaker in early 2024, he became the longest-serving Assembly Speaker in state history.

Regardless of how well Assembly Democrats do in races tonight, big changes will be coming for Coughlin in 2026. For the first time of his Speakership, someone other than Phil Murphy will be in the governor’s office; Coughlin will enter into a triumvirate with Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill and Senate President Nick Scutari (D-Linden) as the most senior member of the three.

Lopez, for her part, joined the legislature in 2018, after Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) departed to run against Murphy for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The 19th district is represented in the Senate by State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge).