A general election was held in the U.S. state of New Jersey 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 and one Senate special election in the 5th Legislative District. In addition to the State Legislative elections, numerous county offices and freeholders in addition to municipal 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 elections on the ballot this year.[1] The predictions turned out to be true as the 22% turnout was the lowest percentage recorded in recent state history.[2]

Senate

One special election was held in the 5th Legislative District to fill the remaining term of Donald Norcross, who resigned in November 2014 following his election to Congress. In December 2014, 5th District Democrats appointed former Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez to the seat.[3] Cruz-Perez was unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced no challengers in the special election.[4] The Democratic Party 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.

5th Legislative District special senate election[5][6][7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Nilsa Cruz-Perez (incumbent) 19,150 98.5
Write-ins Personal choice 282 1.5
Total votes 19,432 100.0
Democratic hold

General Assembly

New Jersey General Assembly Elections, 2015
November 3, 2015
All 80 seats in the New Jersey General Assembly
41 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Vincent Prieto Jon Bramnick
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since January 14, 2014 January 17, 2012
Leader's seat 32nd (Secaucus) 21st (Westfield)
Last election 48 32
Seats won 52 28
Seat change Increase 4 Decrease 4
Popular vote 1,111,320 958,085
Percentage 53.3% 45.9%
Results:
     Democratic hold      Democratic gain
     Republican hold
Speaker before election

Vincent Prieto
Democratic

 Elected Speaker

Vincent Prieto
Democratic

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. After the previous 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.[8] Democrats flipped both seats in the 11th district, and one each in the 16th and the 1st.

Overall results

Summary of the November 3, 2015 New Jersey General Assembly election results:[9]

↓
52 28
Democratic Republican
Parties Candidates Seats Popular Vote
2013 2015 +/- Strength Vote  % Change
Democratic 78 48 52 Increase4 65% 1,111,320 53.3% Steady0.0%
Republican 79 32 28 Decrease4 35% 958,085 45.9% Steady0.0%
Green 8 0 0 Steady 0% 8,643 0.4% Steady0.0%
Libertarian 2 0 0 Steady 0% 1,180 0.1% Steady0.0%
Independent 8 0 0 Steady 0% 6,891 0.3% Steady0.0%
Total 175 80 80 0 100.0% 2,086,119 100.0% -

    References

    1. ↑ Aregood, JT (July 30, 2015). "Experts Predict Record-Low Turnout for Assembly Races". Politicker NJ. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
    2. ↑ Associated Press (December 1, 2015). "A new low: Only 22 percent of New Jersey voters cast ballot". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
    3. ↑ Staff (December 11, 2014). "N.J. senators remark on Donald Norcross's career without mentioning the obvious: The Auditor". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
    4. ↑ "Official List Candidates for State Senate For General Election 11/03/2015 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. August 11, 2015. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
    5. ↑ "Camden County 2015 General Election November 3, 2015". Camden County Clerk. November 10, 2015. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
    6. ↑ "General Election 11/03/15". Gloucester County Clerk. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
    7. ↑ "Official List Candidates for State Senate For General Election 11/03/2015 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
    8. ↑ Johnson, Brent (November 3, 2015). "Democrats win their largest N.J. Assembly majority in 37 years". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
    9. ↑ "Official List Page Candidates for General Assembly For General Election 11/03/2015 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
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