Early results in New Jersey's U.S. House of Representatives primary elections
NEW YORK -- It's primary day. There are elections in seven states. Races are being closely watched because they will set the stage for U.S. House of Representatives and Senate races this fall.
CBS2's Alice Gainer has more from New Jersey, where there has been a push to get people out voting Tuesday night since turnout has been low.
There are no statewide races in this year's primary in the Garden State, but all 12 of the state's seats in the House are at the top of the ballot, with voters in each district determining who wins the major party nominations.
Democrats currently sit in 10 of those seats.
"In terms of the Democratic primary, all of the Congressional Democrats who are running for re-election are virtually a lock for re-election," former state legislator John Wisniewski said.
With Republicans trying to take back control of the House and Senate, Wisniewski says races in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota are being watched closely.
"New Jersey has a pretty strong party system in which party line candidates, the organization candidates, almost invariably, absent of extraordinary circumstances, get re-elected. That's not true in every state that's having a primary today and so I think those will be the states to watch to see if there are upsets," Wisniewski said.
There are some familiar names on the ballot. Former state Senate Minority Leader and Republican Tom Kean Jr., the son of former Republican Gov. Tom Kean, is predicted to win and go head to head again with Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, who won a close race two years ago.
"The Kean family name still has considerable sway among the Republican electorate, so in that primary he really will have very little difficulty in securing the party nomination," Wisniewski predicted.
Sen. Robert Menendez's son, Rob, is running for a seat vacated by retiring Democratic Congressman Albio Sires. The younger Menendez is a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey commissioner.
Early in-person voting was held over the weekend for the second time in New Jersey. So far, no issues have been reported, but turnout is low, as noted by Gov. Phil Murphy, who jogged to his polling place in Middletown on Tuesday.
"We were told we were the fourth and fifth person in our district to be voting today," Murphy said.
At Hoboken City Hall, very few voters were seen coming in and out of the polling site. One man said he cast his ballot by mail.
"I figure it's important to vote," said Jim Canze of Hoboken.
Jean Paul Picard said he voted in person and was, "number 11 at just hour ago."
"There's not a lot of contests. There's not a lot of drama and, therefore, there's not a lot of people who participate," Wisniewski said.
You can only vote for the House representative in the district where you live and new districts were drawn in December. Polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday was also the last day to return mail-in ballots.
