Lieutenant Governor Primary

Six candidates are running, including former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney; State Senator Ghazala Hashmi 🏆, who represents the Richmond suburbs; State Senator Aaron Rouse from the Hampton Roads area; and Babur Lateef, Chair of the Prince William County School Board. The field is rounded out by Victor Salgado, a federal prosecutor and law professor, and Alex Bastani, an attorney.

Hashmi is endorsed by EMILY’s List, Congressman Ro Khanna, and several legislators from both Northern Virginia and the Richmond area. Rouse has received endorsements from Congressman Bobby Scott, former Congresswoman Elaine Luria, and nearly a dozen legislators from the Hampton Roads region. Stoney is backed by Pete Buttigieg, former Governor Terry McAuliffe, and about half a dozen legislators from across the state.

Attorney General Primary

Jay Jones 🏆 and Shannon Taylor are competing for the Democratic nomination to run against Jason Miyares, the incumbent Republican Attorney General. Jones is a former state delegate from the Hampton Roads area, while Taylor currently serves as the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Henrico County.

Jones has been endorsed by former Governors Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam, along with a dozen state legislators from across Virginia. Taylor's endorsements include former Attorneys General Mary Sue Terry and Mark Herring, EMILY’s List, former Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, and former Speaker of the House of Delegates Eileen Filler-Corn.

House of Delegates District 21 (Harris +5 in 2024)

Incumbent Democrat Josh Thomas is running for re-election. The Republican primary field includes Army veteran Sahar Smith, attorney Xanthe Larsen, and businessman Gregory Gorham 🏆.

House of Delegates District 46

This is a safely Republican district, and incumbent Jed Arnold is not seeking re-election. Grayson County Supervisor Mitchell Cornett 🏆 will face Adam Tolbert, Vice Chair of the Virginia Lottery Board.

House of Delegates District 49 (Trump +3 in 2020, Trump +8 in 2024)

Incumbent Republican Danny Marshall is not seeking re-election. On the Republican side, Danville City Council Member Madison Whittle 🏆 is facing Vanessa Scearce. On the Democratic side, Danville Council Member Gary Miller 🏆 is running against U.S. Marine veteran Jasmine Lipscomb.

House of Delegates District 57 (Biden +5 in 2020, Harris +9 in 2024)

Incumbent Republican David Owen is running for re-election. In the Democratic primary, former Chair of the Virginia Asian Advisory Board May Nivar 🏆, who is endorsed by EMILY’s List, is facing small business owner Andrew Schear. This race is expected to be closely watched in November.

House of Delegates District 62

This is a safely Republican district, and incumbent Nick Freitas is not seeking re-election. Madison County Supervisor Clay Jackson will face business owner Karen Hamilton 🏆 in the Republican primary.

House of Delegates District 73 (Trump +7 in 2020, Harris +1 in 2024)

This district in Chesterfield County experienced one of the strongest shifts toward Democrats anywhere in the country. Incumbent Republican Mark Earley Jr. is running for re-election. Civil rights attorney Leslie Mehta 🏆 is competing in the Democratic primary against consultant Justin Woodward. EMILY’s List has endorsed Mehta in this race.

House of Delegates District 75 (Biden +5 in 2020, Harris +6 in 2024)

Incumbent Republican Carrie Coyner is running for re-election. The Democratic primary field includes community advocate Lindsey Dougherty 🏆, who is endorsed by EMILY’s List, professor and Army veteran Stephen Miller-Pitts, and nurse Dustin Wade.

House of Delegates District 81

This is a safely Democratic district covering Henrico and Charles City counties, where incumbent Delores McQuinn 🏆 is facing a primary challenge from Henrico County School Board member Alicia Atkins.

House of Delegates District 89 (Biden +3 in 2020, Harris +3 in 2024)

Republican incumbent Baxter Ennis is not seeking re-election. The Republican primary includes Chesapeake School Board member Mike Lamonea 🏆 and attorney Kristen Shannon. On the Democratic side, attorney Karen Robins Carnegie 🏆 is facing Blaizen Bloom, a member of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Board.

House of Delegates District 97

Democratic incumbent Michael Feggans is running for re-election. Former Delegate Tim Anderson 🏆 is running in the Republican primary against teacher Christina Felder.

Let’s take a closer look at the final results. In Hudson County, Mikie Sherrill pulled off a surprising countywide victory, thanks in large part to strong backing from the County Democratic Organization, including endorsements from Chairman Craig Guy, Union City Mayor Brian Stack, West New York Mayor Albio Sires, and Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis.

Sherrill secured 68 percent of the vote in Union City, 61 percent in West New York, and 43 percent in Weehawken. Perhaps most notably, she managed to eke out a shocking win in Hoboken.

Meanwhile, Steve Fulop had an underwhelming performance in his home base of Jersey City, earning just 37 percent of the vote. Ras Baraka followed closely with 35 percent, gaining strong support from Black voters in the southern part of the city, along with progressives who split their backing between Baraka and Fulop. Fulop did manage to carry Bayonne, North Bergen, where he had the support of longtime Mayor Nicholas Sacco, and the PATH train hub of Harrison.

In Essex County, Ras Baraka secured strong margins among Black and Hispanic voters. He also performed well in commuter towns with progressive bases, such as Maplewood, South Orange, and Montclair. On the other hand, Mikie Sherrill held her ground in her 11th Congressional District, racking up overwhelming margins in Upper Montclair and across the suburbs of northwest Essex, including Cedar Grove, Verona, and the Caldwells. She also won in affluent communities like Millburn and Livingston.

Baraka finished with 73 percent of the vote in Newark, 69 percent in Irvington, 64 percent in Orange, and 61 percent in East Orange, which propelled him to a countywide victory. Sherrill, however, remained competitive among Black voters in the county, carrying diverse areas such as West Orange and Montclair. Whereas, Steve Fulop managed to win South Orange but lost Maplewood to Sherrill by just 1 percent.

In Passaic County, Mikie Sherrill received 35 percent of the vote, posting strong margins in suburbs like Wayne and dominating in Woodland Park and Totowa. These areas have significant Italian-American populations, a key demographic she will need to maintain support from in a general election matchup against Republican Jack Ciattarelli.

Ras Baraka won the city of Paterson with 53 percent of the vote, followed by Sherrill at 20 percent and Spiller at 15 percent. Baraka also carried the city of Passaic with 42 percent. Josh Gottheimer, who had the backing of the Orthodox Jewish community, finished second there with 20 percent, while Sherrill took 16 percent.

In Clifton, Sherrill came out on top with 34 percent of the vote, compared to 27 percent for Baraka.

In Middlesex County, Mikie Sherrill won with 34 percent of the vote, compared to 21 percent for Steve Fulop. Sherrill performed well across this large and diverse county, with her strongest margins coming from Metuchen and Perth Amboy.

Steve Fulop, who was born in Edison, delivered his second-best performance outside of Hudson County. He received 28 percent of the vote in Edison, 25 percent in Old Bridge, and 24 percent in Monroe. However, these numbers were not enough for him to carry any municipality in the county.

Ras Baraka finished third in Middlesex with 20 percent of the vote, fueled by support from Black, Hispanic, and progressive voters. He won in New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Piscataway, and Highland Park.

Welcome to the Jersey Shore. In Monmouth and Ocean counties, Mikie Sherrill secured commanding victories, winning 44 percent of the vote in Monmouth and 36 percent in Ocean.

In Monmouth County, Steve Fulop finished second with 20 percent. His strongest showing came in Marlboro, a town with a large population of less religious Jewish voters, where he earned 29 percent. Sherrill dominated across the board, winning 52 out of the county’s 53 municipalities. The lone exception was the Borough of Deal, where only 17 votes were cast and Josh Gottheimer came out on top. Sherrill’s performance was especially strong in Middletown Township, the county’s largest municipality, where she received an impressive 50 percent in a six-way race.

In Ocean County, Gottheimer won a landslide in Lakewood, earning 77 percent of the vote with strong backing from Orthodox Jewish leaders who urged voters to support him. Sherrill won every other municipality in the county except Seaside Park, where Fulop garnered 41 percent. However, fewer than 150 total votes were cast there.

In Burlington County, Mikie Sherrill delivered a strong performance across the board, winning the South Jersey county with 41 percent of the vote. Willingboro was the only municipality to back Ras Baraka, who received 37 percent there.

Sherrill performed well throughout this highly educated and diverse suburban county, with her strongest margin coming from Moorestown, the hometown of Senator Andy Kim.

Like colorful maps? Atlantic County came to play. Five different candidates won precincts here, making it one of the most competitive counties in the race. Mikie Sherrill pulled off a surprising first-place finish with 24 percent of the vote, narrowly edging out Sean Spiller and Steve Sweeney, who each finished with 19 percent.

Steve Fulop won Atlantic City with 30 percent of the vote, boosted by his alliance with Mayor Marty Small. Sherrill performed best along the coast, winning in towns like Brigantine and Ventnor City. She also carried Egg Harbor Township. Meanwhile, Sweeney secured victories in Hamilton Township and Buena Vista, showing strength in the inland parts of the county.

In the southernmost trio of counties, Steve Sweeney dominated Salem County, winning 41 percent of the vote. The county includes much of his former State Senate district.

Sean Spiller came in first in Cumberland County, narrowly edging out the competition in a fragmented field where four other candidates won at least one municipality. Spiller’s victories in the cities of Vineland and Millville were key to his countywide win.

In Cape May County, Mikie Sherrill led decisively with 39 percent of the vote. She won nearly every municipality, losing only North Wildwood and West Wildwood to Steve Sweeney.

Looking at the township map at the end of the night, Mikie Sherrill swept most of North and Central Jersey, with the exception of Bergen County towns located within Josh Gottheimer’s congressional district. Still, Sherrill managed to win working-class towns in South Bergen such as North Arlington and Lyndhurst, and she prevailed in highly educated commuter hubs like Ridgewood.

Ras Baraka carried many cities and suburbs with large Black and Hispanic populations across North and Central Jersey. Notable exceptions included Union City, West New York, Dover, and Perth Amboy where Sherrill won.

Baraka ultimately won Union County with 37 percent of the vote, driven by strong support in diverse municipalities such as Elizabeth, Plainfield, Roselle, Hillside, Linden, Rahway, and Union Township. Sherrill carried the rest of the county, including affluent and highly educated suburbs like Westfield, Cranford, and Summit.

Josh Gottheimer secured victories in more than 50 municipalities across Bergen County, benefiting from local support and strong name recognition as a sitting member of Congress.

Steve Sweeney performed well with white working-class voters in his home base of Salem and Gloucester counties, as well as parts of Camden County. However, Mikie Sherrill was able to cut into his South Jersey support by winning affluent, highly educated suburbs in Camden County and nearly sweeping Burlington County, where she won all but two towns. Sherrill finished with 41 percent of the vote in Burlington, an impressive showing in a county within the Philadelphia media market for a candidate from Montclair.

Statewide, Sherrill emerged as the clear winner just moments after polls closed. Her campaign was powered by the strongest ground game in the state, high favorability among the Democratic base, and a disciplined advertising strategy that ramped up over the final eight weeks. Her background as a Navy veteran resonated deeply with voters, and many saw her as the candidate best positioned to take on Donald Trump in November.

More interactive maps from other counties will be available soon. I would like to thank Varun Vishwanath and Garrett Herrin from VoteHub for providing interactive precinct maps and graphics for this article. Please go follow @votehubUS on Twitter.

Legislative District 33- Democratic primary

Welcome to Hudson County, where rivalries run strong and the enemy of your enemy can be your friend. Hudson County’s Democratic Organization (HDCO) is heavily influenced by chairman Craig Guy and State Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack. The county machine has thrown its support behind incumbent Assemblyman Gabriel Rodriguez and Larry Wainstein.

Stack, a longtime archrival of former State Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, faces a challenge from Sacco’s own slate: Tony Hector and Frank Alonso. Meanwhile, the HDCO’s endorsement of Sherrill in the gubernatorial primary has sparked an unusual alliance between Sacco and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop.

A powerful force in the region, Stack is known for his robust ground game. Union City alone has nine early voting sites. Stack has sent each resident in the legislative district a sign to hang in their windows in support of his endorsed candidates. Stack provides his constituents with a personal cell phone number to contact for constituent services. Union City remains the epicenter of the old-school machine politics for which New Jersey is famous.

Edison Mayoral Race- Democratic primary

Edison is a large community of more than 100,000 in Central Jersey that is majority Asian, with three quarters of that being of South Asian origin. The community is at the center of a blockbuster primary to be the next mayor. Incumbent Sam Joshi and his slate of assembly candidates (Dima, Patel, and Kentos) face a strong challenge from Lav Patel and his own slate (Mehta, Chen, and DeAmorin). Patel is endorsed by and allied with Steven Fulop, while Joshi runs with the support of the official party leadership in Middlesex County. Patel is challenging Joshi on issues of public safety, fiscal discipline, and limiting cannabis businesses in the town. Recent brawls at a mall in Edison have become a key issue in this race. The yard sign warfare between the two campaigns is the most aggressive anywhere in the state. It is impossible to drive around Edison without spotting dozens of large signs on every major road.

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Legislative District 32- Democratic primary

That’s not all in Hudson County. An intriguing six-way contest is taking shape in Jersey City and Hoboken, where the winners are virtually guaranteed seats in the New Jersey Assembly. This district, which includes the Jersey City Waterfront and Hoboken, has historically leaned toward anti-establishment candidates.

Incumbent Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (D-Jersey City) has aligned herself with Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and is running alongside Jersey City Councilman Yousef Saleh under the “Democrats for Change” slogan. Meanwhile, the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HDCO), which endorsed Mikie Sherrill in the gubernatorial race, is backing its own slate: Director of Public Works Crystal Fonseca and Hoboken Public Library Director Jennie Pu.

A third slate features Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who previously challenged Rob Menendez Jr. in the 2024 primary for New Jersey’s 8th congressional district. Bhalla is allied with Katie Brennan, a former Murphy administration official who has clashed with the Hudson County machine multiple times in recent years.

5. Legislative District 31- Democratic Primary

   This district includes Bayonne, Jersey City, and Kearny. Yes, another intense showdown in Hudson County: Fulop’s Democrats for Change versus the Hudson County Democratic Organization once again. The two incumbents are not running together. Incumbent Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Jersey City) is running alongside Bayonne Councilwoman Jacqueline Weimmer on Steven Fulop’s slate. Meanwhile, incumbent William Sampson (D-Bayonne) is running with Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker, backed by the Hudson County machine.

   This race offers an intriguing test of incumbency versus machine influence versus mayoral support. Notably, the portion of Jersey City in this district is less anti-establishment than the areas in Legislative District 32 (discussed above).

   

6. Legislative District 28- Democratic Primary

   This district covers the South and West wards of Newark, Maplewood, Hillside, and SOMA (South Orange and Maplewood). Incumbent Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood) was initially uncertain about running for a second term but ultimately decided to seek re-election on Steven Fulop’s Democrats for Change team.

   Meanwhile, the Essex and Union County Democratic parties—both backing Mikie Sherrill in the gubernatorial primary—have endorsed Chigozie Onyema alongside incumbent Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark). South Orange and Maplewood represent the progressive, anti-establishment core of the district, and Garnet Hall will need strong support there to secure re-election. Whether her incumbency will be enough remains to be seen.

As of May 9, Fulop has spent 92% of that spending cap, Gottheimer has spent 80%, meanwhile Congresswoman Sherrill is only at 46%. Other candidates in this race, Steve Sweeney and Ras Baraka have raised $7.6 million and $5.4 million respectively and are still eligible for more public matching funds.

The Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) allows for a maximum of $5.5 million in matching funds, $2 received for every $1 raised. Sean Spiller is the lone candidate in the Democratic primary who is not eligible to receive matching public funding since he did not meet the $580,000 threshold.

But that is not all — outside spending will play a huge role in this primary. Working New Jersey, a Super PAC aligned with NJEA (the education union that Sean Spiller leads) has indicated they will $35 million on this primary on his behalf. Additionally, per the last FEC report filed on March 31, Congressman Josh Gottheimer has funneled at least $10 million from his federal congressional account to a super PAC named Affordable New Jersey. Gottheimer still has $11 million remaining in his federal account, which he can transfer to Super PACs at anytime. No Surrender and Affordable New Jersey are the two groups that have spent $14 million on TV ads supporting the congressman, according to the NJ Globe.

Coalition for Progress, a Federal Super PAC supporting Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, reported spending $4.7 million between January 1 and March 31 and transferred the remaining $6.5 million to the New Jersey edition of its Super PAC. That group has since spent an additional $5.2 million on behalf of Fulop, with $1.6 million remaining in the bank. Another committee named Workers For A Better New Jersey filed on April 29 indicating it plans to spend another $1.5 million in this primary. The organization is led by the same person who chairs Coalition for Progress and is presumed to be supporting Steven Fulop as well.

Like Gottheimer, Congresswoman Sherrill has also transferred money from her federal congressional account to the One Giant Leap, a super PAC supporting her in the primary. However, this was a significantly smaller amount, approximately $127,000 with only $27,000 left in her congressional account as of March 31. One Giant Leap had indicated, when filing paperwork, that it plans to spend $5 million on behalf of Sherrill.

One New Jersey United, an independent committee, has also filed paperwork indicating its intention to spend $600,000 on behalf of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Meanwhile, Building Bridges Voter Project has already spent $3.2 million on behalf of Sweeney and had $50k on hand as of March 31.

In terms of digital ads, $2.7 million has been spent on Google/YouTube Advertising since November 15, 2024 with Pro-Gottheimer ads accounting for a majority ($1.4 million), followed by Pro-Fulop ads at ~$760,000. On Facebook/Instagram, a little over $1 million has been spent on digital advertising in the last 90 days, with Working New Jersey ads on behalf of NJEA President Sean Spiller compromising the largest share.

Polling has indicated a consistent but narrow lead for Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill but her primary opponents and their aligned groups are spending big on TV and digital advertising. Will anyone catch up to Sherrill, who has the most institutional support of county parties in North and Central Jersey? We will find out soon.