(The Center Square) – Justin Murphy, an attorney, has won the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate in New Jersey. He’ll face incumbent U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who was the only candidate to file for the Democratic Party nomination, for the seat in November.
The Associated Press called the GOP race for Murphy at 11:25 p.m. on Tuesday evening. As of Wednesday morning, with 93% of the vote counted, Murphy received 33.3% of the vote. Richard Tabor has 29.2% of the vote in the GOP primary, as of Wednesday morning, while Alex Zdan has 26.9%, and Robert S. Lebovics has 10.6%.
“As a US Senator, I want to ensure the NJ Pinelands (my home) are kept pristine, the Jersey Shore kept pollution and windmill free; Parental Rights and Medical Freedom become national priorities; and our seniors have the best Medicare program available,” Murphy writes on his campaign website. “I will convey my Conservative principles with confidence, energy, and optimism. The last time New Jersey elected a Republican to the US Senate was 1972; my campaign represents a new day in New Jersey politics.”
“Being self-employed, I can identify with middle-class voters. I know firsthand financial struggle, debt, and stress,” he continued. “I know the long hours and countless weeks without a paycheck that many small business owners experience as a normal part of their working adult lives. Small business owners will have no better friend in Washington.”
Booker, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2013, said he was honored to earn his party’s nomination, in what he says is an election where “so much is at stake for the future of our country.”
“This is a moral moment in America. Throughout our nation’s 250 year history, generations have been called to stand up and show that the power of people is always greater than the people in power, and we must answer that call again,” Booker wrote on social media Tuesday evening. “Let me be clear: this November I am running not just for Democrats, but to represent all of New Jersey and fight for Americans regardless of party.”
“I know that the issues that divide us today are not about left vs. right, they’re about right vs. wrong,” he continued. “The chaos, corruption, and cruelty from Trump’s Washington demands an answer at the ballot box, and I know that millions of you are ready to stand up and speak out.”
Booker enters the race as the heavy favorite.
As of May 14, Booker’s campaign has $22.6 million more on hand than Murphy’s campaign.
Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, cited fundraising as one of the reasons it’s an uphill battle for Republicans to defeat Booker in a recent interview on Battleground Politics with NBC10’s Lauren Mayk.
“The statewide race is the one that eludes Republicans more than any other, because you can get a pocket of Republicans in Ocean County, or in Cape May County, or in Union County, but to run statewide in a state that has 850,000 more Democrats than Republicans, that’s a really tough one to go up against, that number, statewide,” he said. “That’s why those races are so hard for them. It’s why Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in New Jersey since 1972 and so that’s really daunting odds.”
National ratings outlets agree.
The Cook Political Report rates the race as “solid Democrat.”
