New Jersey Election Results: Bob Menendez Easily Defeats Joe Kyrillos

After a brief period of what looked like New Jersey could go red, the president took back the historically blue state with 58.8% of the vote. Romney managed 41.9%. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, state officials sought new and creative ways to collect ballots from many of the state’s displaced residents. However, the experiment with emailing and faxing in voting ballots has not fared well. Suffering many glitches, the deluge of requests has forced county clerks’ offices to extend the voting deadline to 8 pm on Friday although email ballot requests had to be filed by 5 pm Tuesday. Poll results were slow to come in as a result of the still many power shortages and chaotic situations around the state. 

In a tight Senate race, Democrat Bob Menendez defeated Republican challenger Joe Kyrillos, 59% to 39%. Menendez entered the race with an advantage: he is known by more voters and has outraised his opponent. Kryillos is a longtime Trenton lawmaker and a personal friend of Governor Chris Christie.

In the 3rd congressional district, Representative Jon Runyan (R) successfully fended off Democratic challenger Shelley Adler, 53% to 45% in an interesting twist of fate. Runyan is a former lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles. Adler is the widow of John Adler, who held the seat in southern New Jersey for a term before he was defeated by Runyan two years ago. 

See full New Jersey election results here.