New Jersey
Xavier Branch
Update 1: Nov. 4, 2020
Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the state of New Jersey in the 2020 presidential election Tuesday night as the race was called early with only 65% of the estimated vote total being reported.
According to The Associated Press, Biden received 61% of the overall votes in the state while Incumbent Donald J. Trump received only 38% leading to the race being called early. Biden gained such an early lead on Trump that helped him cruise to the win in this state as the race was called soon after the polls closed at 8 p.m.
According to The New Jersey Star-Ledger, the Trump campaign lost in court back in October when a judge denied their bid to stop New Jersey from counting mail-in/absentee ballots early. Both candidates seemed to do well in this category as Biden walked away with 55% of the absentee votes while Trump had 44%.
New Jersey has been a state known for being Democratic in most of their political positions throughout their history with George Bush being the last Republican to win New Jersey back in 1988.
Biden has become the most recent example as he adds these 14 electoral votes from the state of New Jersey to his total in his race against Trump.
Update 2: Nov. 4, 2020
Democrat Cory Booker defeats GOP challenger Rik Mehta in race for United States Senate seat in New Jersey on Tuesday night.
According to the Associated Press, Booker’s win of the state of New Jersey was announced just one minute after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Booker walked away receiving 61% of the votes while his Republican counterpart Mehta only received 38%.
Booker was the incumbent senator for New Jersey as he joined the Senate back in 2013 as a part of a special election. He then went on to hold his seat in the Senate a year later in 2014 against a Republican challenger, Jeff Bell.
Booker ran for the Democratic presidential nomination before dropping out in January earlier this year and endorsing Joe Biden just two months later. The Republican challenger that Booker defeated Tuesday was Rik Mehta who is a business executive with a law degree and a doctorate in pharmacy who was a large supporter of President Trump.
In addition to the president and one of the U.S Senate seats, voters were asked to elect their U.S. House representatives as well. New Jersey also had three ballot questions regarding legalizing recreational marijuana, delaying the legislative redistricting if the Census is delayed, and giving a property tax break for veterans who served during peacetime.
According to the Associated Press, New Jersey did vote to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older Tuesday which was a promise made from their Governor Phil Murphy when he was elected back in 2017.
The state is firmly in Democratic control, with Democrats holding both houses of the state legislature, governor, and 12 of 14 congressional seats.