Quijano, Rodriguez win in LD20

Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth) has won re-election in the 20th legislative district alongside fellow Democrat Ed Rodriguez, the New Jersey Globe projects; Rodriguez, who beat a party-backed candidate in the June primary, will be one of a new crop of Democratic legislators without close party ties.

As of 11:56 p.m. and with nearly all votes counted, Quijano has 43% of the vote and Rodriguez has 42%, while Republican Carmen Bucco, a tailor and perennial candidate, has 14%.

Quijano has represented the Elizabeth and Union Township-based 20th district for close to two decades and is currently the Speaker Pro Tempore, the Assembly’s #3 position. 

Her district-mate, Assemblyman Reginald Atkins (D-Roselle), did not seek re-election this year after party leaders in Union County decided that he wouldn’t be their best bet in a primary without the county line, the ballot design system that propped up incumbents for decades. Instead, party leaders got behind Union County Commissioner Sergio Granados (D-Elizabeth), who ran on a ticket with Quijano.

Rodriguez, the former planning director in Elizabeth, wasn’t content with Granados’s coronation, and he entered the race with Roselle community activist Walter Wimbush. The renegade slate quickly made it into a real race: Rodriguez put $270,000 of his own money into the campaign, and there’s speculation that he got tacit support from State Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union Township), who has never been closely aligned with the rest of the Union County Democratic organization.

The end result was a squeaker: Quijano finished in an easy first place, but Rodriguez edged out Granados for the second spot 24.3% to 23.9%, a 98-vote margin. He was one of four Democratic candidates on election night who won safe-seat nominations against party-backed candidates, a sea change for a state where party endorsements were once tantamount to election.

Republicans had no hope of contesting the deep-blue district, and one of their candidates didn’t even make it to the ballot: Richard Tabor was disqualified after a judge determined that his primary residence was in Burlington County, nowhere near the boundaries of the 20th district.