TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – The field for November’s general election is set, but it’s the expansion of gambling into northern New Jersey that could be the top issue facing voters when they return to the polls.
Voters finalized their picks for the Democratic and Republican candidates in the ticket-topping Assembly contest on Tuesday, with incumbents winning four of the five competitive races and candidates with establishment support winning in the fifth.
But earlier this week lawmakers rolled out a proposal to put a question to voters – possibly as soon as this November – seeking approval for up to three casinos in Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties. The proposal must still go through legislative committees and faces an August deadline to make it onto the fall ballot, so its fate is uncertain.
But if it is on the ballot it could weigh heavily.
Jeff Brindle, executive director of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, said lobbying on the issue could draw as much as $25 million in outside spending. That’s roughly four times the amount that’s been spent so far in this election cycle.
“It could be the wild west, with independent expenditures,” he said. “It could be significant.”
The issue cuts along geographic boundaries and across party lines.
Northern New Jersey Democrats and Republicans see it as a pathway to stanch the flow of gamblers to neighboring states, while southern New Jersey Democrats and Republicans have spoken out against the idea, arguing it will siphon jobs away from an economically-flagging Atlantic City.
“We’re not going after dollars in Atlantic City. We want to go after dollars we’re losing to New York and Pennsylvania,” said Bergen County Democratic Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, who sponsored the proposal.
“A lot of people up north have their interests,” said Atlantic County Democratic Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, who expects a tough re-election fight in the fall. “And we have our interests down here. What it means for us down here is first of all it takes the focus away from fixing Atlantic City. It’ll take jobs away from Atlantic City. We don’t need that anymore.”
Mazzeo’s contest could be a key fight for Democrats. They are defending their 48-seat majority, and experts say they have a built-in advantage because of favorable redistricting and higher numbers of registered voters. Republicans would need a net pick-up of nine seats, and the path to victory looks difficult.
Here’s a look at how Tuesday’s primary unfolded and how the general election is coming into focus.
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HOT SPOTS
Analysts expect the southern New Jersey 1st and 2nd Districts to be among the most hotly contested in November. They also expect northern New Jersey’s 38th District to have a competitive race.
In the primary, Democratic voters in New Jersey’s 15th, 20th and 31st Districts saw contested races, while the GOP featured contests in the 9th and 24th Districts.
Each district elects two people to the Assembly, and most party-backed candidates run together as a ticket.
– Incumbents DiAnne Gove and Brian Rumpf defeated Howard Height and Fredric Kociban in the 9th District, which includes parts of Atlantic, Burlington and Ocean counties.
– In the Mercer and Hunterdon County-based 15th District, incumbents Reed Gusciora and Liz Muoio held off a challenge from attorney Dan Toto.
– Incumbents Jamel Holley and Annette Quijano prevailed in the Elizabeth-centered 20th District, which featured a three-way competition. They beat two slates of challengers – Tony Monteiro and Giuliano Farina, and Jorge Batista and Vivian Bell.
– In northwest New Jersey’s 24th District, incumbent Parker Space and ticket-mate Gail Phoebus defeated challengers Marie Bilik and Nathan Orr, who ran separately.
– Nicholas Chiaravalloti, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, and ticket-mate Angela McKnight won in Hudson County’s 31st District. The contest featured two open seats. The winners had establishment backing and took on several challengers, including Joseph Conte and Ray Regalado and Bruce Alston and Washington Flores.
