Kean unconcerned by lagging GOP VBMS in LD21

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean said he wasn’t concerned about Democrats’ vote-by-mail lead over his Assembly running mates.

“There’s a strong effort to get all those votes counted and more people to the polls,” Kean said. “So, I am very optimistic that those numbers will get closer as the election gets closer.”

Of the 5,136 mail-in ballots cast in the 21st district, where Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz are fighting to fend of challenges from Democrats Lisa Mandelblatt and Stacey Gunderman, 48.1% came from registered Democrats while 33.9% came from registered Republicans.

The returned ballots account for a little more than a quarter, 25.5%, of those sent out by the district’s county clerks.

A slightly larger share of Republican voters, 32.3%, who requested mail-in ballots have returned their ballots.

Democrats have returned 31.2% of their vote-by-mail ballots.

Still, the advantage there lies with Democrats. They make up 42% of the district’s VBM voter pool, while Republicans account for just 27%.