A general election was held in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
on November 3, 2015.
Primary elections were held on June 2. The only state positions up in this election cycle were all 80 seats in the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...
and one
Senate special election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
in the
5th Legislative District. In addition to the State Legislative elections, numerous
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
offices and
freeholders in addition to
municipal
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
offices were up for election. There were no statewide ballot questions this year though some counties and municipalities may have had a local question asked. Non-partisan local elections, some school board elections, and some fire district elections also happened throughout the year.
State Legislature
The entire Senate is up in years ending in 1, 3, and 7; as there is no gubernatorial election coinciding with the years ending in 5 or 9 in this decade, the General Assembly races are the highest races listed on ballots for the first time since 1999. A very low turnout was expected due to the lack of
Presidential,
Congressional, or
gubernatorial
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
elections on the ballot this year.
The predictions turned out to be true as the 22% turnout was the lowest percentage recorded in recent state history.
Senate
One special election was held in the 5th Legislative District to fill the remaining term of
Donald Norcross
Donald W. Norcross (born December 13, 1958) is an American politician and labor leader who is the U.S. representative for in South Jersey. A member of the Democratic Party, Norcross was first elected to this congressional seat in 2014, follow ...
. Norcross resigned in November 2014 following his election to Congress. In December 2014, 5th District Democrats appointed former Assemblywoman
Nilsa Cruz-Perez
Nilsa Cruz-Perez (born January 21, 1961) is an American Democratic Party politician who was sworn into office to represent the 5th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate on December 15, 2014, to fill the vacant seat of Donald Norcross. ...
to the seat.
Cruz-Perez was unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced no challengers in the special election.
The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
holds a majority of seats in the Senate with 24 seats; the
Republican Party holds 16 seats. The results of this election did not affect the standings of either party in the upper house.
General Assembly
All 80 seats in the General Assembly were up for election this year. In each
Legislative district, there are two people elected; the top two winners in the general election are the ones sent to the Assembly. Typically, the two members of each party run as a team in each election. In the
2013 election, Democrats captured 48 seats while the Republicans won 32 seats. At the time of the general election, there were two vacancies: One in the 5th District resulting from Democrat
Angel Fuentes's resignation on June 30, 2015, and one in the
24th District resulting from Republican
Alison Littell McHose's resignation on October 17, 2015. Ultimately four Democrats defeated four incumbent Republicans leading to the Democrats controlling 52 of 80 seats in the
2016–17 Assembly session, the highest percentage they held since 1979.
Overall results
Summary of the November 3, 2015 New Jersey General Assembly election results:
[
]
List of races
=District 1
=
, - style="background-color:#F6F6F6"
! style="background-color: #3333FF" ,
, colspan="6" , One Democratic gain from Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, -
=District 2
=
, - style="background-color:#F6F6F6"
! style="background-color: white" ,
, colspan="6" , One Democratic and one Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
hold
, -
=District 3
=
=District 4
=
=District 5
=
Incumbent Angel Fuentes originally ran in the Democratic primary but withdrew his candidacy in June 2015 when he became a deputy county clerk in Camden County.
=District 6
=
Robert Esposito originally won a spot on the Republican ticket in the general election but was replaced on the ballot by Claire Gustafson.[
]
=District 7
=
=District 8
=
=District 9
=
=District 10
=
=District 11
=
, - style="background-color:#F6F6F6"
! style="background-color: #3333FF" ,
, colspan="6" , Two Democratic gains from Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, -
=District 12
=
Anthony Washington originally won a spot on the Democratic ticket in the general election but was replaced on the ballot by Robert P. Kurzydlowski.[
]
=District 13
=
=District 14
=
=District 15
=
=District 16
=
On election night, the returns initially showed incumbent Republican Donna Simon ahead of Democrat Andrew Zwicker
Andrew P. Zwicker (born May 17, 1964) is an American physicist and politician who has served in the New Jersey Senate from the 16th Legislative District since 2022. He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 16th ...
. That night, Zwicker delivered a concession speech
Concession may refer to:
General
* Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to operat ...
though later returns that night put him ahead of Simon.provisional ballot
In elections in the United States, a provisional ballot (called an affidavit ballot in New York) is used to record a vote when there are questions about a given voter's eligibility that must be resolved before the vote can count. The federal ...
s were counted in the four counties comprising the district, Simon conceded on November 16.Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
hold, one Democratic gain from Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, -
=District 17
=
=District 18
=
=District 19
=
Reyes Ortega originally won a spot on the Republican ticket in the general election but was replaced on the ballot by Jesus Varela.[
]
=District 20
=
=District 21
=
=District 22
=
=District 23
=
=District 24
=
=District 25
=
=District 26
=
=District 27
=
=District 28
=
=District 29
=
=District 30
=
Jimmy Esposito originally won a spot on the Democratic ticket in the general election but was replaced on the ballot by Lorna Phillipson.[
]
=District 31
=
=District 32
=
=District 33
=
=District 34
=
Louis Rodriguez originally won a spot on the Republican ticket in the general election but withdrew his candidacy from the general election due to a federal job.
=District 35
=
=District 36
=
=District 37
=
=District 38
=
Anthony Cappola initially dropped out of the race on October 1 following the discovery of a controversial satirical book entitled ''Outrageous!'' written by Cappola.
=District 39
=
=District 40
=
References
External links
New Jersey Department of State - Division of Elections 2015 Election InformationNew Jersey elections, 2015
- Ballotpedia
{{2015 United States elections