Booker wins primary, Van Drew race is set
Fewer issues reported; Biden wins home state
WASHINGTON – Another primary night has come and gone, with few election surprises and little trouble for voters who cast their ballots.
Incumbent Sen. Cory Booker survived against a liberal challenger in New Jersey’s Democratic Senate primary.
Booker faced off against little-known Lawrence Hamm, founder and chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress. Hamm used the same slogan – “Not me. Us” – that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., used in his presidential campaign.
Booker is one of only three Black senators and has been a vocal leader in the police reform debate on Capitol Hill. Before the primary, Booker ran for president but ended his bid in January.
Although Booker, who first arrived to the Senate in 2013, was expected to win, more liberal candidates, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have bested establishment-backed Democrats. Jamaal Bowman leads in the primary against Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., a 16term incumbent and the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair who received endorsements from Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
Van Drew to face Kennedy
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who switched parties from Democrat to Republican last year, won the GOP primary and will face Amy Kennedy, who won the Democratic primary, in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District.
In December 2019, Van Drew was one of only two House Democrats to break ranks and vote against both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Soon after his vote, he switched his party affiliation to the GOP. Trump campaigned for Van Drew’s reelection at a rally this year in Wildwood, New Jersey.
Van Drew faced a primary challenge from conservative Bob Patterson, a former speechwriter in the George W. Bush administration.
For the Democratic primary, Kennedy, a former schoolteacher who is married to former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, defeated Brigid Callahan Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University, and Will Cunningham, former congressional aide to Booker, who served as chief investigator for the House Oversight Committee.
Kennedy was endorsed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
Voting issues not as prevalent
After weeks of long lines at polling sites and various issues with voting, voters in New Jersey and Delaware reported few issues casting their ballots.
Both states expanded vote-by-mail and absentee voting options as the coronavirus pandemic grips the country.
In New Jersey, Murphy ordered the election to be conducted mostly by mail after pushing the primary back from June 2 because of COVID-19. All voteby-mail ballots postmarked on or before Tuesday and received by 8 p.m. July 14 will be counted.
In Delaware, Gov. John Carney issued an emergency coronavirus declaration that allowed any voter to choose “sick or temporarily or permanently physically disabled” and be eligible to cast a ballot absentee. Absentee ballot applications were sent to every registered Democrat and Republican in the state.
Biden officially wins home state
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, officially won Delaware Tuesday evening.
Biden, who was the state’s senator for more than 35 years, finally won his home state in his third run for president. He is the last Democratic candidate standing after outlasting one of the largest and most diverse presidential fields.