NJ Primary 2024: Key races for Election Day
NEW JERSEY - New Jersey Democrats and Republicans headed to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots for the state’s closed 2024 primary election.
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Here's everything you need to know for Election Day on June 4, from where to vote, to who's running for each race:
Election Day
If you didn’t send in a mail-in or absentee ballot, polls are open on Election Day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at these polling locations.
Key races
President
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are on the ballot, despite already being their parties' presumptive nominees.
Trump’s name will appear on the ballot today for the first time since his historic conviction on felony crimes as a handful of states hold the last Republican presidential primary contests of 2024.
U.S. Senate
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez announced in March that he wouldn’t run in the Democratic primary as he faces federal corruption charges, but he filed on Monday to run as an independent. His name will not appear on the ballot.
On the GOP side, it's a four-way contest but southern New Jersey hotel developer Curtis Bashaw has gotten significant county party backing, and Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner won former President Donald Trump's endorsement.
While New Jersey hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, the stakes are high in the divided Senate where Democrats have a narrow majority.
Democrats:
- Patricia Campos Medina
- Kevin Cupples
- Lawrence Hamm
- Andrew Kim
- Patrick Merrill
Republicans:
- Curtis Bashaw
- Michael Estrada
- Albert Harshaw
- Shirley Maia-Cusick
- Gregg Mele
- Justin Murphy
- Christine Serrano Glassner
- Alex Zdan
U.S. House
Candidates on your ballot will be dictated by the congressional district you live in. These races are taking place in the Philadelphia area:
District 1: Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties
- Democrat: incumbent Donald Norcross
- Republican: Damon Galdo and Nicholas Whitelock
District 2: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean and Salem counties
- Democrats: Tim Alexander, Carolyn Rush, Brandon Saffold and Joe Salerno
- Republican: incumbent Jeff Van Drew
District 3: Burlington, Mercer and Monmouth counties
- Democrats: Joseph Cohn, Herbert C. Conaway Jr., Carol Murphy and Sarah Schoengood
- Republican: Shirley Maia-Cusick and Gregory Sobocinski
The Democratic Socialists of America are also backing a protest vote for delegates to the national convention against Biden over his handling of the violence in Gaza. Democrats in delegate districts across the state will have the chance to vote for "uncommitted" on the delegate ballot.
New this year for Democrats will be the demise of the so-called county line, the ballot system in which those with party backing got grouped together and those without it were frequently listed in what was known as "ballot Siberia."
The end of the practice stems from a lawsuit Kim and other Democratic candidates brought in federal court, alleging the system unfairly put a thumb on the scale for those with party connections. A federal judge halted the system for this year's Democratic primary only, as no Republicans joined the suit.
Practically, the change means that candidates for office will be grouped together, as is done in every other state.
But that won't go for Republicans — whose county parties that still back candidates have retained the system. State legislative leaders have said they would take up the ballot issue but so far haven't passed any legislation changing how the state conducts primaries.
FOX 29 Philadelphia, as well as the Associated Press, helped contribute to this report.