The 2020 New Jersey primary has been verified by the state’s Board of Elections, about a month after votes were cast on July 7.
A total of nearly 1.5 million votes were cast in a hybrid vote-by-mail and polling stations, second only to the 1.7 million who voted in the 2008 primary. The percentage of voters at 26% was the same from the 2016 primary.
Of those who voted, 457,017 were Republicans and 1.0 million were Democrats. The percentage of registered voters by party was 33% for Republicans and 42% for Democrats.
Presidential Results
In the race for President, Donald Trump ran unopposed in the Republican primary, while Joe Biden easily beat Bernie Sanders by a 87%-12% margin. The vote breakdown in North Jersey by county for Trump was 34,167 in Bergen, 10,298 in Essex, 6,388 in Hudson, 39,161 in Morris, 15,611 in Passaic, 16,465 in Sussex and 11,484 in Warren.
Biden beat Sanders by a 84,620 to 15,242 margin in Bergen, 87,316-11,292 in Essex, 57,392-12,448 in Hudson, 41,609-8,904 in Morris, 29,148-6,030 in Passaic, 8,891-2,564 in Sussex and 7,317-1,679 in Warren.
In the Democartic Senate race, Sen. Cory Booker will defend his seat in November after defeating Lawrence Hamm, chairman of Sanders’ New Jersey presidential campaign. Booker received a total of 838,110 votes statewide as compared to Hamm’s 118,802.
Booker Breakdown
By county, Booker received 87,357 votes in Bergen, 86,417 in Essex, 60,662 in Hudson, 44,396 in Morris, 35,107 in Passaic, 9,885 in Sussex and 7,735 in Warren.
The closest primary race was for the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Rik Mehta was declared the winner with 39.4% of the vote, followed by Hirsh Singh at 34.3%, Patricia Flanagan at 18%, Natalie Rivera at 5% and Eugene Anagnos at 3%.
The vote breakdown by county for Mehta was 17,349 in Bergen, 4,848 in Essex, 3,119 in Hudson, 12,990 in Morris, 4,654 in Passaic, 7,439 in Sussex and 3,698 in Warren.
For Singh and Flanagan, their votes totals by county were, respectively, 7,143 and 6,781 in Bergen, 3,298 and 1,544 in Essex, 1,492 and 1,045 in Hudson, 12,128 and 8,119 in Morris, 4,197 and 5,204 in Passaic, 4,303 and 3,770 in Sussex and 3,734 and 3,067 in Warren.
Gottheimer Gains
In races that saw incumbents facing a primary opponent, Rep. Josh Gottheimer defeated Glen Rock councilwoman Dr. Arati Kreibich, who challenged the incumbent from the left, by a count of 52,406 to 26,418 in the 5th Congressional District.
Gottheimer beat Kreibich by a 41,835 to 20,468 margin in Bergen, 2,049-1,276 in Passaic, 4,873-2,707 in Sussex and 3,649-1,967 in Warren.
On the Republicans side, investment banker Frank Pallotta was the top vote getter in a five man race, receiving a total of 25,834. His county splits were 10,607 in Bergen, 1,808 in Passaic, 8,217 in Sussex and 5,202 in Warren.
Former Cresskill Councilman John McCann, with a total of 16,220 votes, placed second as he won Bergen County with 11,856 votes. He received 704 votes in Passaic, 1,678 in Sussex and 1,973 in Warren.
Payne Prevails
In the 10th Congressional District, Rep. Donald Payne Jr. will attempt to win a sixth term in November as he received 83,346, followed by 6,653 for Eugene Mazo and 4,293 for John Flora.
By county, Payne received 48, 751 in Essex and 13,265 in Hudson. Vote counts for Mazo were 4501 and 1284 in Essex and Hudson, respectively, while Flora recorded 2015 and 1544 in those counties, respectively.
In the 8th district, Rep. Albio Sires, with 47,814, was able to beat back the challenge of Union City resident Hector Oseguera (18,557) and Will Sheehan (1,612). In Hudson, 33,702 votes were cast for Sires, compared with 14,120 for Oseguera and 1,121 for Sheehan.
Sires Soars
Additionally, the vote count for Sires in Bergen and Essex was 472 and 5,899. In those counties, Oseguera received 148 and 2,048, respectively, while Sheehan garnered 11 votes in Bergen and 344 in Essex.
In the 8th and 10th districts, Jason Mushnick and Jennifer Zinone both ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Mushnick vote count by county was 109 in Bergen, 948 in Essex, and 4,084 in Hudson, while ballots cast for Zinone included 1,080 in Essex and 1,219 in Hudson.
In the 9th District, Rep. Bill Pascrell garnered a total of 54,422, topping Tenafly resident Zina Spezakis (10,988) and Alp Basaran with (1,592).
Pascrell Sails Through
By county, Pascrell totaled 28,003 in Bergen, 2,607 in Hudson and 21,812 in Passaic. Spezakis received 7,071 votes in Bergen, 672 in Hudson and 3,254 in Passaic.
Pascrell’s GOP opponent for the general is Billy Prempeh, who defeated Ramsey resident Timothy Walsh by a 10,055-3,500 margin. A Passaic native, Prempeh received 6,970 votes in Bergen, 394 in Hudson and 2,691 in Passaic; ballots cast for Walsh totaled 1,524 in Bergen, 315 in Hudson and 1,661 in Passaic.
Unopposed in the 11th
The race for the 11th saw both Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) and GOP contender Rosemary Becchi not facing a challenger in the primary.
The vote breakdown by county for Sherrill was 26,955 in Essex, 38,373 in Morris, 10,647 in Passaic and 3,986 in Sussex, for a total of 79,961.
Becchi, who garnered 46,774 total votes, received 6,950 votes in Essex, 27,484 in Morris, 7,776 in Passaic and 4,564 in Sussex.
The July 7 election was postponed from June 2 due to the coronavirus. Gov. Phil Murphy ordered a hybrid primary election day, with all voters able to vote-by-mail as well as mandating that at least one polling place be open on election day. Election officials will accept vote-by-mail ballots for up to seven days after the election, as long as they were postmarked July 7.
