Results: Who Won, Who Lost In New Jersey Primaries for Frum Community

By FrumNews.com 

New Jersey residents–which has the fourth-largest Jewish population in the country—went to the polls on Tuesday for the state’s 2024 primaries.

The races determine who receives the Democratic and Republican nominations to run in November for a wide range of positions. That includes everything from battles for local school boards and town councils to high-stakes elections for Congress and Senate, as well as the presidential elections.

Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have secured the delegates needed to win their respective nominations. However, eyes are on how many “protest votes” they would receive. In the NJ primary, Trump got 98% of the vote, and Biden got 87.8% of the vote, with 8.9% going “uncommitted.”

U.S. Senate:

The race for the open Senate seat after Senator Bob Menendez was indicted on alleged Bribery charges in 2023 and is not seeking the Democratic nomination.

On the Democratic side, the race was between New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy (wife of Governor Phil Murphy) and Rep. Andy Kim. However, the First Lady dropped out in March, viewing the race as “unwinnable.”

In the Democratic primary, Andy Kim beat Patricia Campos-Medina 74.7% to 16.1%, and the third place went to Lawrence Hamm 9.1% of the votes (with 68% of votes in).

In the GOP primary, Curtis Bashaw beat (Trump endorsed) Christine Serrano–Glassner 45.7% to 38.6% and Justin Murphy came in third and (former Republican candidate for President of the United States) Albert Harshaw fourth (with 78% of votes in).

“Our win today is a stunning victory for a people-powered movement that mobilized against corruption and stood up to the machine politics of New Jersey. I took the chance to run for Senate eight months ago on the belief that people are fed up with our broken politics and are ready for a new generation of leadership fighting for change.” Rep. Kim said “What I found is that there is a deep hunger across the political spectrum for a different kind of politics grounded in integrity and public service that aims to rebuild trust.”

Tonight is the start of real change, because our state and country are at a crossroads,” Curtis Bashaw said. “For all of New Jersey families, for our future generations, for America. We will fight to make our neighborhoods safer, to make our economy stronger, to keep our families free.”

Congress:

In the notable races, NJ-3, the race for the open seat of Rep. Andy Kim, who vacated to run the abovementioned senate race, Herb Conaway beat Carol Murphy 49.7% to 24.1%, with other candidates getting under 10%. In the GOP primary, Rajesh Mohan beat Shirley Maia-Cusick 38.7% to 30.3%, and third and fourth-place winners Michael Francis Faccone and Gregory Sobocinski got 16.9% and 14.1%, respectively.

In NJ-4, which includes Lakewood, Toms River and Jackson, Republican Rep. Chris Smith (who proudly represents the frum kehilla), easily fended off challenger David Schmidt, 84.9% to 15%. Democrat Matthew Jenkins, who lost to Smith in the 2022 general election, won unopposed in his primary.

In NJ-8, which includes Hudson County (including Union and Jersey City), Elizabeth, and parts of Newark, Rep. Rob Menendez Jr. (son of indicted Senator Bob Menendez) won with 53.6% of the vote of this highly contested and expensive race, Mayor Ravi Bhalla came in second with 35.7% and Kyle Jasey with 10.6%. On the GOP side, Anthony Valdes won unopposed.

In NJ-9, Veteran Pro-Israel Rep. Bill Pascrell easily fended off a divisive and bitter anti-Israel candidate, Mohamed Khairullah, a wannabe “squad” member, with 76.4% to 23.5%. The district has the largest population of “Palestinians” in the U.S. but has a large Jewish population in Fairview, Paterson, Clifton, and Passaic. In the GOP primary, Billy Prempeh beat Hector Castillo with 72.5% to 27.3%, respectively.

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In Lakewood municipal elections,, incumbent Lakewood Committee members Meir Lichtenstein (D) and Deputy Mayor Menashe Miller (R) won their respective primaries, along with their running mates, Salvatore Frascino (D) and Moshe Raitzik (R).