New Jersey
Republican Curtis Bashaw's nomination fueling GOP hope in deeply Democratic New Jersey
Kim has emerged as a formidable political power in the state’s dominant party.
Returning to his home state in 2018 after serving as a national security official in the Obama administration, Kim defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018, then won again in the GOP-leaning district two years later. He was reelected in a newly drawn district in 2022.
His Senate campaign was borne out of the September indictment against Menendez, which alleged that he and his wife took gold bars and cash in exchange for helping businessmen get lucrative deals with foreign countries. The day after the indictment, Kim said he’d challenge Menendez for the Democratic primary and called for his resignation.
Kim’s campaign met resistance when first lady Tammy Murphy entered the race and locked up party establishment support. That sparked a lawsuit from Kim and others aiming to topple the state’s unique primary ballot, which gave preferential positioning to candidates with party boss support.
In an unforeseen turn, a federal judge sided with Kim and put a hold on the so-called county line system. Murphy left the race, saying she didn’t want to engage in a savage primary fight with a fellow Democrat. In the meantime, Kim had endeared himself to progressives who had fought bitterly against the system for years.
In an interview, Kim said his experience would resonate with voters. He referred to Trump not by name, but by bringing up the former president’s criminal conviction in New York and tethering him to both Menendez and Bashaw.
“I don’t think that any other Democrat in New Jersey would be able to be stronger than we are in terms of being able to step up against Republicans,” Kim said. “Our message right now — standing up against corruption, standing up against broken politics — it’s going to work very strong against Senator Menendez as well as a Senate candidate that backs a convicted felon.”
It’s unclear how Menendez’s trial will play out, let alone how his independent bid could affect the race. Trump’s position as the GOP’s standard-bearer, though, could rally loyal Democrats behind Kim. The former president’s time in the White House coincided with a near-total wipe out of Republicans in House seats in the race. The party has bounced back somewhat from an 11-1 Democratic advantage to 9-3, but Trump is widely viewed as holding back Republicans running for statewide office.
“Trump on the ballot is a bigger problem for Republicans than Menendez on the ballot is for Democrats,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “We’ve seen this pattern of voting in federal elections in New Jersey that has been driven by a significant anti-Trump sentiment.”
A cautionary note for Republicans can be found in knowing they have seen this movie before.
In 2018, Republicans nominated Bob Hugin, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive, who spent millions trying to defeat Menendez.
Menendez was coming off his first federal corruption trial, which ended in a hung jury. Hugin attacked him over the scandal, but Menendez won by double digits.
New Jersey
Election Day 2025 is underway in Pa. and N.J. Here’s what to know
Voters are heading to the polls across the U.S. on Tuesday to cast ballots in the 2025 general election.
Polls are open in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Polls will close at 8 p.m. nationwide.
Reporters from WHYY News and Billy Penn are following each of the major campaigns — including the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention votes, the race for Philadelphia district attorney, the New Jersey governor’s race and more.
As Election Day unfolds, follow the latest on WHYY.org, the WHYY App and WHYY-FM.
Here’s your voter game plan
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
New Jersey
Where the polling stands in Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and California
Polling is giving observers a clearer picture of what to expect on Election Day as voters cast their ballots.
Key elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and California could hold big implications for what to expect in next year’s midterms.
Here’s what the polling tells us about Tuesday’s major races:
Virginia
Throughout Virginia’s gubernatorial campaign, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) has maintained a solid lead over Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R). The latest Emerson College/The Hill survey, released Saturday, showed Spanberger leading Earle-Sears 55 percent to 44 percent. Spanberger improved her standing by 3 points in the poll, while Earle-Sears improved her standing by 2 points.
The polling average from The Hill’s partners at Decision Desk HQ has Spanberger up nearly 10 points over Earle-Sears.
However, the most closely watched race in the state this cycle is the attorney general contest. The race was always seen as one of the closer statewide races in Virginia, given Attorney General Jason Miyares’s status as an incumbent and fundraising advantage. Democratic nominee Jay Jones, however, still held a narrow lead over Miyares.
That all changed in early October when texts sent by Jones in 2022 surfaced in which he talked about inflicting violence on former state House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R). Jones apologized for the texts, but polls show the scandal has narrowed the Democrat’s chances at ousting the Republican attorney general.
The same Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released Saturday shows Jones leading Miyares 49 percent to 47 percent, well within the poll’s 3.2 point margin of error. Meanwhile, a Roanoke College poll released last week showed Miyares with an 8-point lead over Jones.
New Jersey
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) leads her Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli, but the race is close enough that some Democrats are sweating.
The Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) polling average shows Sherrill leading Ciattarelli 50.1 percent to 45.5 percent. A Suffolk University poll released last week shows Sherrill with a 4-point lead, while an AtlasIntel poll also released last week showed Sherrill up 1 point over Ciattarelli.
The race comes a year after President Trump made notable gains in the blue-leaning state. Trump lost New Jersey to former Vice President Kamala Harris by just less than 6 points, a marked improvement from 2020 when he lost the state to former President Biden by nearly 16 points.
Ciattarelli also performed better than expected in his race against Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in 2021, losing by roughly 3 points.
New York City
Polls suggest Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is well on his way to becoming mayor of New York City. Mamdani began the mayor’s race as a relatively unknown figure but has skyrocketed in stature following his surprise win in the Democratic primary.
Strategies to stop Mamdani’s support from growing have continuously been floated throughout the campaign. The city’s incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropped his bid for reelection and eventually backed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s independent bid. Republican Curtis Sliwa has also faced calls to drop his bid, with critics arguing that his presence in the race benefits Mamdani because he takes votes away from Cuomo.
Despite Cuomo’s high name ID and warnings about Mamdani’s far-left policy platform, Mamdani has only continued to consolidate support in the Democratic enclave. According to the DDHQ polling average, Mamdani leads the field with 44.6 percent, followed by Cuomo at 31.6 percent, and Sliwa at 18.6 percent.
However, Cuomo’s allies were somewhat heartened over the weekend when an AtlasIntel poll showed Cuomo appearing to close the gap with Mamdani. The poll showed Mamdani leading Cuomo 40.6 percent to 34 percent ahead of Election Day.
California
Proposition 50, the ballot measure backed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that would establish new congressional district maps that temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting committee, appears to be on a glide path to passing. The measure would allow Newsom and the state’s Democrats to move forward with redistricting efforts ahead of next year’s midterms in an effort to counter Republican-led efforts in Texas.
The measure has gotten some pushback, including from former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), but has proven to be widely popular in the state. An Emerson College Polling survey released last month found that 57 percent of likely voters in the state said they backed the measure while 37 percent said they did not support it. A separate CBS News/YouGov poll showed an even larger margin, with 62 percent of respondents saying they would vote yes on the measure and 38 percent saying they would vote no.
Newsom is so confident the measure will pass that last week he told supporters to stop donating to the effort.
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New Jersey
Sherrill, Ciattarelli make their final push for votes in the race for New Jersey governor
WEST NEW YORK, New Jersey (WABC) — It is down to the wire in the race to become the next governor of New Jersey.
Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill campaigned in West New York on Sunday, shoring up support with Latinos.
“We have seen a great deal of enthusiasm across the state. It’s been really exciting, including events like this,” Sherrill said.
Some of that enthusiasm emanated from a major rally Saturday night with former President Barack Obama in Newark.
“The numbers in the vote by males in early voting look very, very good. And, you know, having President Obama here last night was kind of icing on the cake,” she said.
Turnout has been overwhelming. Between in-person early voting and mail-in ballots, nearly 1.2 million New Jerseyans have already cast their vote.
“At the end of the day, it’s all decided by the end of 8:00 on Tuesday. But we really like the numbers we see with regard to the VBS vote by mail ballots and the early voting,” Jack Ciattarelli, Republican Candidate NJ Governor, said.
Ciattarelli was joined by Congressman Mike Lawler in Middletown speaking with voters on Sunday.
“People are upset over eight years of Phil Murphy’s failed policies and the very strong impression that my opponent would just be more of the same, only worse,” Ciattarelli said.
He is also criss-crossing the state in a final push for votes.
“I hope the Democrats continue to make the same mistake over the next two days. They’ve been making for the past four months, talking all about Trump and blaming everything on Trump. The people in New Jersey are smarter than that. They want solutions. And that’s exactly what we’ve been giving them every day on the trail,” he argued.
Early voting is over. Polls open at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Election Day.
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