We are one week away from the New Jersey primary election.  Although this is considered an "off year", we will be electing one Senator and twelve members of the House of Representatives--the latter being our full representation in the lower house.

The Senate seat is the one taken by Democrat Cory Booker in last year's special election; four Republican candidates are vying for the space on the ballot to confront him in November.  Booker is running unopposed on the Democratic side; we discussed him extensively last year.

Brian Goldberg has held a few county and municipal positions, and has actively worked to support other candidates and issues.  Although this is his first statewide election, he has the money to outspend his Republican opponents for the nomination, but is financially dwarfed by Booker.  His policies suggest financial conservativism, including federal fiscal responsibility and job creation by reducing the costs and regulations for small businesses, along with strong support for second amendment (gun) rights and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").  He has a background in I.T., and has been an executive in a construction company for the past dozen years, giving credibility to his claims that he knows about job creation at the grassroots level.

Jeff Bell has never won an elected office, although he took the Republican nomination for Senate away from incumbent Clifford Case in 1978 (then lost the general to Senator Bill Bradley).  He worked with the Reagan administration to promote the tax cuts which led to recovery in the 1980s, and helped put through the bipartisan Tax Reform Act of 1986.  He advocates a return to the gold standard (tying the value of the dollar to a specific weight of gold), and has the endorsement of Forbes Media head Steve Forbes.  The restoration of middle class prosperity is a priority he intends to pursue.  His other stated policies put him mostly in the moral conservative category, including protection of religious freedom, opposition to abortion, and school choice systems such as vouchers.  He favors real universal healthcare, but does not think Obamacare is the path to reach it.  Also on his issues list are gun rights, opposing internet gambling and drug legalization, promoting statehood for Puerto Rico, and a robust energy policy.

Rich Pezzullo has a strong and broad business background but no indication of experience in elected office.  His positions are strongly conservative, including the repeal of Obamacare, balancing the federal budget, eliminating government bailouts of failing businesses, and removing the federal government and its Common Core program from education.  He also is specifically targeting government intrusions into citizen privacy.  He supports gun freedoms, is pro-life, opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, opposes the "green" energy agenda insofar as it stifles production of fuels and so drives prices, is pro-Israel, wants a strong national defense but rejects putting that military under the direction of international agencies, and promises to work toward a more conservative judiciary.  He also supports Congressional term limits, and has signed the "term limits pledge".

Murray Sabrin is a professor of finance at Ramapo College, the son of Polish holocaust survivors, and 1997 Libertarian Party candidate for Governor, when he did respectably well for a second-tier party candidate.  He has posted positions on the economy, blaming the poor recovery in large part on budget deficits and poor monetary policy from the Federal reserve; civil liberties, for which he promises to fight for the restoration of constitutional rights impinged upon by legislation; healthcare, which he wants to see returned to a free market; budget, for which he would lower both spending and taxes; and foreign policy, for which he promotes a military isolationism avoiding alliances unnecessary to national defense.

These are the candidates for the Republican nomination for Senate.  We shall endeavor to cover those running in primaries in the twelve New Jersey Congressional Districts.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

In New Jersey's first district, covering most of Camden County, the north half of Gloucester County, and a southern slice of Burlington County, incumbent Congressman Rob Andrews resigned from his second term in February to take a job with a Philadelphia law firm.  He maintains that his resignation was unrelated to the House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he misused campaign funds to pay for a family trip to Scotland.  As a result, the regular election in November will also be a special election, which means that whoever is elected will take office immediately rather than early next year.

Three names familiar in local politics are vying for the Democratic nomination in this heavily Democratic district, and four Republicans are looking for the chance to run against the winner.

Logan Township mayor Frank Minor was elected to that position as a Republican in 2003, but then changed to the Democratic party in 2007.  He also serves as executive director of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, the people who manage the bridges.  He is putting himself against the Democratic "political machine", represented by our second candidate.

That "political machine" candidate is State Senator Donald Norcross, who in 2010 after one week as a State Assemblyman was appointed to fill the vacant New Jersey State Senate seat for his (state legislative) district 5.  He has risen to be an Assistant Majority Leader in that upper house.  Prior to his involvement in politics he was a union electrician and assistant business manager for the electrical workers union, and has served in several important positions in the AFL-CIO.  He is clearly pro-labor, and wants to do what he can to improve New Jersey's economy.

The third candidate in the Democratic race is Frank Broomell, young combat veteran marine officer who entered the race largely so that Norcross would not run unopposed.  He wants to raise the minimum wage, increase vocational training opportunities, reduce college loan interest costs, control American military involvement abroad, protect veterans' services, and work with teachers to improve education.

Although poll predictors give little chance for a Republican to win this district, there are four in the race all the same.

Lee Lucas lost a 2009 Assembly bid (third legislative district), fourth in a relatively close four-way race for two positions.  He did not appear at a candidate debate sponsored by the N.A.A.C.P., because he did not believe they would vote for a "fiscal conservative" anyway.  The economy is his major interest, which he wants to address by raising tariffs against China and restricting both legal and illegal immigration to create more jobs for citizens.

Garry Cobb probably has the name recognition, as a former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker and local radio and television (CBS-3) sportscaster.  He lists as top priorities jobs, through lower taxes and less business regulation; family, particularly in terms of tax support for those raising children; care for seniors; and healthcare, for which he suggests that every government official should agree to accept the same healthcare plan that they impose on the rest of the country.  He seems to be the candidate to beat on the Republican side.

Gerard "Jerry" McManus has a degree in economics from Rowan University, and supports what is called the "Fair Tax", a twenty-three percent sales tax to replace the federal income tax, and wants to find a way to reduce college costs and debts.  He advocates for energy independence, and wants to repeal Obamacare.  He also wants to reduce polarization, and work across party lines to accomplish objectives.

Claire Gustafson is the only woman in this race.  Her concerns are to reduce the national debt, replace Obamacare while keeping some of its good points.  She would expand the military and reduce federal involvement in education.  She has a strong business background, and wants the federal government to manage our tax money better and leave more of it in our pockets.  Her political experience includes a term on the Collingswood Board of Education and a failed run for that town's Board of Commissioners.

That's the district one race; we have eleven more to go.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

The second district is geographically very large, covering all of Salem, Cumberland, Cape May, and Atlantic Counties plus a southern section of Ocean County and a small southeast corner of Burlington County.  It was expanded in the 2010 redistricting when the state lost a congressional seat due to national population shifts.

Republican incumbent Frank Lobiondo has held this seat since 1995.  He is considered a more moderate right-of-center Republican.  His voting record shows him opposed to abortion but generally in favor of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

He is being challenged in the Republican primary by Mike Assad, Absecon-born son of an Egyptian immigrant who served on the Absecon Board of Education and was a radio talk show host in Ocean City.  He is more conservative than Lobiondo, opposing Obamacare, favoring the "Fair Tax" (a 23% federal sales tax replacing the federal income tax), opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants, and speaking in favor of the defense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights as the law which governs the lawmakers.  His other positions are all strongly conservative.

On the Democratic side, there are also two candidates.

If the name Bill Hughes, Jr. sounds vaguely familiar, it might be because his father held this congressional seat from 1974 to 1995, when Lobiondo claimed it.  The county Democratic party committees in all eight covered counties have endorsed him, and he has been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee, suggesting he is the leading candidate.  He has never run for office previously, but has served seven years with the Justice Department.  His list of issues and positions sound relatively moderate but also somewhat ambiguous--he specifically mentions women's health and avoids mentioning abortion, for example.

His opponent in the primary is Dave Cole, software engineer and Rutgers University political science graduate who served as a Senior Technology Advisor at the White House five years ago.  His website proposals are specific.  Raise the minimum wage and restore extended unemployment benefits while rebuilding infrastructure and encouraging job creation; support teachers and teacher unions to improve public education; work toward clean energy alternatives; support same-sex marriage; curb gun accessibility to promote safety; target health care costs; upgrade government computer technology and laws; protect social security and strengthen medicare; universal high speed Internet access; protection of intellectual property but revised rules to stop patent trolls; support for women's health care including abortion.

The second district thus has contests for both parties.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 3 includes most of Burlington County and that part of eastern Ocean County not covered in the first two districts.  Portions of Camden County which were once part of this district have been moved to District 1.  Incumbent Republican Jon Runyan, former Philadelphia football player, is not running for re-election.

There is a very familiar name in the race:  former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, conservative Republican most recently ran against Cory Booker in last year's special Senatorial election.  He previously ran against Governor Christie in the 2009 Republican Gubernatorial primary, and represents a conservative "Tea Party" viewpoint.  Because of his Senate bid last year, those positions are already well covered in previous articles.

Tom MacArthur is running against him in the Republican primary.  He worked his way up to Mayor of Randolph Township.  His fiscal credentials are impressive, helping maintain his town's triple-A bond rating from his experience as CEO of York Risk Services Group, an insurance company.  He intends to reduce Federal spending and taxes, and has a better record on that than Lonegan.  He is more moderate on other issues, wanting to protect Social Security and Medicare, but to repeal Obamacare, defend traditional marriage, and oppose abortion.  He wants to strengthen the military, following Reagan's concept of peace through strength.

The Democratic race includes a woman, Aimee Belgard, lawyer, member of the Edgewater Park Township Committee, volunteer with many organizations presently working with the Burlington County Freeholders.  She defends Social Security and Medicare, women's health care decisions (implying but not stating abortion), and the environment, promises to revitalize New Jersey's economy and expand educational opportunities, and protect veteran benefits.  She seems to oppose the shutdown of New Jersey military bases because of its economic impact, but does not say whether that should be reversed.  She has the endorsement of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Burlington County democratic party.

She is opposed by two candidates, the first Howard Kleinhendler, a New York lawyer and member of the Ocean County Democratic Committee.  He believes that Obamacare is good but needs to be improved, that tax loopholes for corporations should be closed, and that "undocumented workers", that is, illegal immigrants, should receive amnesty.  He also wants to improve veterans benefits, Hurricane Sandy rebuilding aid, and public education, protect the environment, and support women's rights and specifically "reproductive rights".

The final candidate in the Democratic race is Bruce Todd, who ran as Lieutenant Governor running mate of Diane Sare last year as the candidate of the "Glass-Steagall Now" party.  Restoring the "Glass-Steagall" provisions which restricted affiliations between banks and securities firms (repealed in 1999) is his first issue.  His second is to impeach President Obama, and his third is to invest in Nuclear power.  He is not particularly aligned with the party on those issues, and he does not address other issues in his materials.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 4, in central New Jersey, consists of most of Monmouth County, the western section of Ocean County, and the southern portion of Mercer County, including Trenton.  District 4 use to be almost entirely south of this, with part of Ocean County combined with parts of Burlington and Camden counties.  District 5 frames the northwest corner, covering much of the northern portions of Warren, Sussex, Passaic and Bergen counties.  District 6 is in the central eastern area, a small densely-populated section of northern Monmouth and eastern Middlesex Counties, in the primary impact area of Hurricane Sandy.

In district 4, Republican incumbent Chris Smith has held the seat since 1980; he is unopposed in the primary.  Also running unopposed, in the Democratic primary, is Ruben Scolavino, who made an unsuccessful bid last year for Monmouth County Sheriff but was inspired to try his luck against a veteran politician.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

In the fifth district, Republican incumbent Scott Garrett is running unopposed in the primary.

There are two democrats seeking the nomination.  One, Diane Sare, was last year's Gubernatorial candidate from the Glass-Steagall Now party, a party whose primary issue is restoring the "Glass-Steagall" provisions which restricted affiliations between banks and securities firms repealed in 1999.  She has been closely tied to the Lyndon LaRouche movement for the last quarter century, and this financial plank seems to be the focus of her platform.  She also wants to impeach President Obama, strengthen the war on drugs, and restore the FDR-JFK legacy of the party (as against what she identifies as the Jefferson-Jackson Confederate legacy).

Against her stands Roy Cho, son of Korean immigrants and newcomer to the political process.  He lists among his objectives support for small business but elimination of corporate tax loopholes, investment in transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, and rewarding good teachers.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

Democratic incumbent Frank Pallone, who ran unsuccessfully against Cory Booker in last year's special Senate election, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for the sixth district.  He is currently serving his thirteenth full term in the seat.  In the Republican primary, Anthony Wilkinson is running unopposed, another announced candidate (Anna Little) having failed to file.  Wilkinson is a young technology lawyer and adjunct law professor, and teaches in the public schools in Sayreville.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 7 comprises all of Hunterdon County plus southwestern portions of Warren and Morris Counties and western sections of Union and Somerset Counties.  District 8 is formed of small densely-populated portions of Hudson and Union Counties surrounding but not including Jersey City.  District 9 contains small densely-populated sections of southern Bergen County, eastern Passaic County, and northwestern Hudson County.

District 7 incumbent Republican Leonard Lance, who has held the seat since 2008, is running for re-election.  He is considered a mainstream Republican, voting with the majority of the party on most issues.

He is being challenged in the primary by David Larsen, a strongly conservative business owner who is pro-life, strong on the Second Amendment, against big government, for a strong military, would reduce spending and encourage job growth by reducing industrial regulation, and simplify taxes.  He supports energy independence and opposes Obamacare, wants to stem illegal immigration, and would audit and possibly dissolve the Federal Reserve.

The Democratic race in District 7 has only one name, Janice Kovach; there was a legal question concerning whether she would be included on the ballot, based on what was thought to be a technical irregularity in gathering the signatures required (the person gathering the signatures was not in the district, although the signatures were), but a court has ruled that it does not invalidate her inclusion; that could still be reversed by Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.  There are no other Democrats on the ballot.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

In District 8, Democrat Albio Sires has been incumbent since 2007, and is unopposed in the Democratic primary.  On the Republican side, Jude-Anthony Tiscornia, an attorney with a previous unsuccessful run for the New Jersey General Assembly, is also unopposed in the primary.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 9 also has two candidates running unopposed.  Democratic incumbent Bill Pascrell, formerly Mayor of Patterson, became Congressman from District 8 in 1996; redistricting moved Patterson into District 9 (eliminating one of New Jersey's formerly thirteen legislative disticts), but he was re-elected from District 9 in 2012.

The listed Republican candidate is Dr. Dierdre Paul, her doctorate in education and her experience as a professor since then.  She ran unsuccessfully for the State Assembly last year.  She is unopposed, a declared candidate, Michael Oren Epstein, failed to file for inclusion in the ballot.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 10 covers small densely-populated sections of Essex, Hudson, and Union Counties, including Jersey City and Newark.

Its incumbent, Democrat Donald Payne, Jr., was elected in 2012 to replace his father, who died that year.  He faces three opponents in the primary.  He is considered an average Democrat, voting with the party on most bills.  His economic plan includes investing in infrastructure, education, and jobs training, creating incentives for clean energy, encouraging American production, and reforming the tax code for what is perceived as fairer distribution of the burden.  Long-term debt matters to him, but short-term investment takes priority.  He supports Obamacare.

Running against him is Curtis Vaughn, a Democrat who expresses a strong Christian faith and opposes much for which the traditional Democrat stands.  He does not believe in global warming, opposes abortion, and wants to protect the traditional nuclear family.

Also in the race is Aaron Fraser, another Christian completing a Masters in Theological Studies from Liberty University (in addition to an MBA in Media Management).  His Harlem poverty upbringing inspires him to fight for social justice and jobs and against violence in our cities.  His vision is both local and national, including a blueprint for a better America which he has only published in part at this point.  His policy statements are long and well-explained, but difficult to summarize.

Finally, Robert Louis Toussaint is on the ballot as a Democrat, but there is very little information available about him or his positions.

This heavily Democratic district does have one Republican on the primary ballot, Yolanda Dentley, Vice Principal of the Union Avenue Middle School in Roselle, touting the importance of working together across party lines to accomplish objectives.  She is unopposed in the primary.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 11 contains most of Morris County, southeastern Passaic County (but not Patterson), western Essex County, and southeastern Sussex County.

The incumbent, Republican Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, is considered more moderate than the party in general.  He wants to cut taxes and curb the national debt, and create jobs.  Although he supports health care reform, he opposes Obamacare.  A Vietnam veteran, he supports strong military, security, and veterans programs.  He believes that all levels of government should work together to promote solid education, particularly in math, science, and technology.  He has held the seat since 1995.

He is challenged in the primary by Rick Van Glahn, a conservative who wants to end deficit spending with a balanced budget amendment, reduce spending to 2007 levels, review all federal programs, and repeal Obamacare.  He would also fight to enforce current immigration laws and secure borders.  Styling himself "a citizen servant, not a career politician", he supports term limits and wants all laws imposed on American citizens generally to apply equally to Congress and congressional staff.  He is strongly pro-life and pro-guns.

Three democrats are running for the opportunity to challenge in the fall.  Lee Anne Brogowski describes herself as a Libertarian Democrat, who would get government out of our lives, promote universal equality, legalize marijuana and prostitution, and fight against the money-driven electoral system.  She wants a flat income tax with a complete exemption on the first thirty thousand dollars (and the first ten thousand dollars for each child).

Mark Dunec has posted extensive policy positions, running as a "professional problem solver" particularly in the financial realm.  He supports LGBT policies and abortion, wants to amend but retain Obamacare, tighten enforcement of gun laws, and pressure the United Nations to make changes to better protect human rights around the world.

Brian Murphy completes the field.  New to politics, he is rejecting campaign contributions from lobbyists because he believes corporate money damages the system.  He wants to focus on job creation and the restoration of infrastructure, and education particularly in vocational training.  He sees corruption as a major issue, driven by campaign contributions, which he would revamp so that all contributions are anonymous.  He also has some innovative tax reform proposals, most of which target corporations but some of which are geared to create jobs.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

District 12 is comprised of northern Mercer County including Trenton, most of Middlesex County, and the southeastern edge of Somerset County.

Democrat Rush Holt, incumbent since 1998, is retiring this year, after having lost a special primary bid for the Senate seat grabbed last year by Cory Booker.

A familiar name appears here, as Dr. Alieta Eck is the only Republican in the primary.  She was in the running last year for that same Senate seat, losing in the primary to Steve Lonegan.

Meanwhile, the Democratic primary is crowded with hopefuls to replace the brilliant and progressivist Holt.

Bonnie Watson Coleman is a member of the New Jersey State Assembly and previously worked in various administrative positions.  She has the endorsement of several unions.  Education is her top priority issue, and she has experience on the Assembly Education Committee.  She supports the LGBT agenda, and a shift away from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources as part of a strong environmental policy.  On immigration, she supports the DREAM Act.  She strongly favors women's rights, is pro-choice, and wants stronger restrictions on guns.

Upendra Chivukula is Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.  Born in India, he obtained a Masters in Electrical Engineering in New York, and believes that the Republican party's objective is to keep the lower classes from escaping poverty.  He wants to tax the rich to support the poor, and to invest in education.  He would also raise Social Security taxes on the wealthy to enable the system to support itself in the long term, and work toward a single-payer healthcare system.  He also supports the LGBT agenda.

State Senator Linda Greenstein hopes to protect Obamacare, along with Medicare and Social Security.  She accuses the Tea Party of launching a "War on Women", and Governor Christie of being involved in a similar battle.  She declares herself progressive in this area, defending women's "reproductive health".  She supports the LGBT agenda, and an increased minimum wage.  She admits the immigration system is broken, but thinks that a path to citizenship needs to be created for illegals.  She is pro-environment and favors green energy, and favors tighter gun restrictions.  She is pro-Israel.

Finally, Andrew Zwicker might in some ways be seen as Holt's heir apparent--he is also a Princeton scientist, in their Plasma Physics Laboratory, and characterizes himself as progressive.  He has worked successfully for education funding without being in politics.  According to his policy hopes, investment in research will drive jobs in the economy, clean energy is essential to rein in climate change, undocumented workers need a path to citizenship, abortion is a constitutional right, guns should be more limited, Obamacare is a step in the right direction on which we can improve, the NSA's use of technology needs to be controlled, and the Internet needs to remain open to all.

Election coverage of this race will be found here.

Vote on Tuesday; we will bring more news as it becomes available.

Today, June 3rd, 2014, is the primary election day in the State of New Jersey.  If you are a registered voter in the State of New Jersey, the conventional wisdom says that I ought to encourage you to vote.  After all, this is your opportunity to have a say in who will serve your interests in Washington, both in the United States Senate and in the House of Representatives.  If you do not vote, you are abdicating the option.

Yet there is some unconventional wisdom that perhaps you might take a moment to consider.  There are some who suggest that many registered voters--possibly including you--should not vote.  Indeed, our Founding Fathers put through voting policies that were not merely far from universal, they were intentionally so.  We scoff that they did not permit women to vote, and in many cases did not permit blacks to vote.  However, they were much stricter than that.  In most states you had to own real estate, and in many you had to pay a poll tax whose purposes were both to fund the election and to ensure that voters had enough wealth that they were willing to part with a small portion of it.

Today we would accuse them of limiting government to the wealthy, but their purpose was rather to limit it to the educated:  voters should be informed about the issues and the candidates, and should have the kind of stake in the outcome that means they might face financial losses if the government proved incompetent.  If you had no money, you probably had no education, and would not understand the consequences of different proposed policies.

Today we have nearly universal suffrage (someone has proposed that a partial vote ought to be extended to children, to be exercised by proxy by their parents until they come of age; we also do not allow proxy voting for those whose mental capacity has failed to the point that they do not choose to vote, and in many states anyone previously convicted of a felony cannot vote).  It is not entirely clear that this is the best idea.  Some argue that a large number of voters have been bought and paid for by government handouts, that they will vote for the party that supports financial assistance programs.  This, though, is not limited to the poor--there are certainly also businesses who support candidates who protect their financial gains.  Education does not necessarily prevent unintelligent selfishness in voting.

Still, many who vote do not understand the issues, do not know the consequences of their choices.  They often vote for the party, not the party they themselves have intelligently chosen but the one that their parents or peers taught them to support.  It might be argued that many--even the majority of--voters are ill equipped to vote, and that our nation would be better served if they did not.

I am not going to make that argument here.  Rather, I am going to suggest that you make sure in your own mind that you have reached an intelligent decision concerning who you are supporting in this primary, and then go to the polls and cast your vote accordingly.  We have provided some brief background on the candidates--you can find articles covering races in all twelve congressional districts here, and there is sufficient information on the Internet about all the candidates for voters to know something about each.  You won't necessarily agree with my positions or my assessments, but if you disagree intelligently our country is best served by both of us, and everyone else who makes an intelligent consideration of the matter, to do so as well.

We hope to have the results tonight or tomorrow.

Here are the results of the primaries in our Senate race and our twelve congressional districts.

In the Senate race, incumbent Senator Cory Booker, who won last year's special election, ran unopposed on the Democratic ticket.  The Republican race looked very close, with Richard Pezzullo slightly ahead in the count for a while and Brian Goldberg not far behind, but as the precinct counts approached one hundred percent Jeff Bell slid into the lead and widened his margin to twenty-nine percent of the vote, against twenty-six for Pezzullo, twenty-five for Goldberg, and nineteen percent for Murray Sabrin.

In legislative district 1, Democratic State Senator Donald Norcross (brother of the powerful George Norcross) claimed the nomination from his party in a very strong win; Former National Football League linebacker and more recent radio talk show host Garry Cobb won the Republican race easily out-polling the combined tallies of the three other candidates.

In district 2, twenty-year incumbent Republican Congressman Frank Lobiondo easily took the nomination.  He will run against Bill Hughes, Jr., son of the former Congressman Hughes whom Lobiondo replaced, also showing very strong support by voters in his party.

In district 3, Steve Lonegan conceded the Republican race to millionaire insurance executive Tom MacArthur in a somewhat close and hotly contested race (not as close as Lonegan's Senate loss to Booker last year).  Aimee Belgard easily took the Democratic slot against her two opponents, who took less than a fifth of votes between them.

In district 4, incumbent Chris Smith was unopposed in the Republican primary, and Ruben Scolavino was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In district 5, incumbent Scott Garrett was unopposed in the Republican primary.  In the democratic primary, Roy Cho is the Associated Press' anticipated winner with a substantial lead over his opponent early in the reporting.

In district 6, incumbent Frank Pallone was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and Anthony Wilkinson was unopposed in the Republican Primary.

In district 7, moderate Republican incumbent Leonard Lance has been projected to win (by the Associated Press) against his more conservative challenger.  In the Democratic primary, Janice Kovach ran unopposed.

Janice Kovach is interviewed here.

In district 8, incumbent Democrat Albio Sires and Republican Jude-Anthony Tiscornia both ran unopposed.

Jude-Anthony Tiscornia is interviewed here.

In district 9, incumbent Democrat Bill Pascrell and Republican Dr. Dierdre Paul both ran unopposed.

In district 10, on the Democratic ticket incumbent Donald Payne, Jr., took ninety percent of the primary vote in his district, his three opponents all trailing distantly.  Yolanda Dentley ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Yolanda Dentley is interviewed here.

In district 11, Republican incumbent Rodney Frelinghuysen easily took the nomination to run again, while Mark Dunec took the slot on the Democratic ticket against two opponents.

Marc Dunec is interviewed here.

Finally, in district 12, Dr. Alieta Eck ran unopposed in the Republican primary.  On the Democratic ticket, Bonnie Watson Coleman narrowly beat Linda Greenstein in a four-way race that promises that New Jersey will have a woman in Congress next year regardless of who wins November.

We shall endeavor to provide more information about all these candidates as the November election approaches.

Election coverage will be found here.