2018 Midterm Elections: The Results

November 7, 2018

This year’s midterm elections were some of the most expensive and highly publicized in history. Many attribute this as a reaction to President Donald Trump’s policies throughout the first two years of his term, particularly in the areas of healthcare and immigration. So how did the elections play out in New Jersey as well as the rest of the United States? Here are breakdowns of each election, including flips, flops, and everything in between:

Senate

There were 35 races in the senate election, and at this time this article was written, 32 of them have been called. All the seats projected to go democrat, including Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and West Virginia, did just that. Tennessee and Texas both remain republican. Indiana, Missouri, and North Dakota flipped to republican while Nevada flipped to democrat. Overall, even without all the senate races being called, Republicans will continue to hold majority, currently sitting at 51 republicans to 46 democrats.

House

A total of 26 house seats flipped democrat so far, with 417 of 435 races being called. All of the districts expected to vote democrat and republican for the most part did, but there were a few surprises along the way. Oklahoma’s fifth district, which many thought would likely remain republican, flipped to democrat. The same situation happened in New York’s 11th district and South Carolina’s first district – both expected to lean republican but flipped to democrat. Even without all the elections being called, the house majority has flipped to democrat with 219 dems to 193 republicans.

Governors

There were 36 governor races in this year’s midterm elections. For the most part, everything went as expected, with the exception of Kansas, which many thought would stay red. Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Maine, Nevada, and Wisconsin flipped from republican to democrat. However, many democrats were hoping to secure Florida and Georgia, but Florida was called red and Georgia looks like it will be the same. With 34 of 36 races being called, there are 23 democratic governors and 25 republican governors.

New Jersey

The blue wave definitely hit in New Jersey’s midterm elections. In the Senate vote, incumbent Democrat Bob Menendez, who was projected to win reelection, defeated Republican pharmaceutical executive Bob Hugin. Menendez held nearly a 10 percent lead against Hugin, and the race was called by several news organizations less than an hour after the polls closed.

In New Jersey’s House of Representatives, the races were either huge landslides or very tight – no in between.

• District 1: incumbent Democrat Donald Norcross defeated Republican Paul Dilks, 63 percent to 34 percent of the vote
• District 2: flipped from republican to democratic district, electing Jeff Van Drew with 52 percent of the vote over Seth Grossman with 46 percent
• District 3: one of the most publicized races, it’s still too close to call at the time of this article. Republican Tom MacArthur currently has 49.8 percent of the vote and Democrat Andy Kim has 48.9 percent with 99 percent of the precincts reporting
• District 4: the only district with a republican victor, incumbent Chris Smith defeated Democrat Joshua Welle, 56 percent to 43 percent respectively
• District 5: another incumbent victory, Democrat Josh Gottheimer received 55.2 percent of the vote to defeat Republican challenger John McCann with 43.5 percent
• District 6: Democrat Frank Pallone, Jr., incumbent, defeated Republican Richard Pezzullo, 62.7 percent to 37.3 percent
• District 7: another district the flipped from red to blue, Democrat Tom Malinowski received 50.3 percent of the vote to defeat incumbent Republican Leonard Lance, who received 48.2 percent of the vote
• District 8: remained blue, with incumbent Democrat Albio Sires, who received nearly 78 percent of the vote, easily defeating Republican John Muniz
• District 9: another large disparity, Democrat Bill Pascrell, Jr. was reelected after defeating Republican Eric Fisher, 70 percent to 29 percent of the vote respectively
• District 10: the biggest slide landslide victory, Democratic incumbent Donald Payne, Jr. received a whopping 87 percent of the vote to defeat Republican challenger Aha Khan
• District 11: the final district to flip (and one democrats considered very important to secure), Democrat Mikie Sherrill became the second woman to represent New Jersey in Congress after receiving 56 percent of the vote to defeat Republican Jey Webber
• District 12: Democratic incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman received 68.3 percent of the vote to defeat Republican Daryl Kipnis, who received 32 percent of the vote

Whether you’re a democrat or republican, you have to be happy that regardless of how bad the weather was yesterday, New Jersey saw one of the largest turnouts for a midterm election in our state’s history. That says a lot for the future of the Garden State.