Race Called by various News Agencies – Booker Wins
NEWARK — Democrat Cory Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan are waiting to find out tonight which of them will become New Jersey’s newest U.S. senator.
Booker, the Newark mayor, and Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, are running in today’s special election to fill the final 15 months of the seat vacated after the death of Frank Lautenberg, the Democrat who served five terms.
Polls close at 8 p.m.
Coverage Link
In addition to the coverage link above here’s another link to election results CLICK HERE
Update #4 – @9:50pm Fox and AP Call Race for Corey Booker
| √ Corey Booker (D) – 465,604 56% | Steve Lonegan (R) – 359,501 43% |
Update #3 with about 48% of precincts reporting:
Via Associated Press
| Corey Booker (D) – 362,936 56% | Steve Lonegan (R) – 282,404 43% |
update #2: NBC Reports with 14% counted AP Reporting:
| Booker – 190,415 52% | Lonegan – 170,945 47% |
update #1 – RESULTS Coming In SLOWLY – AVAILABLE HERE
[Next update will be at 10:00pm and we will copy collection results]
TEAM Booker has celebratory party going on – (from link @7:21pm update) The steam tables are emanating the aroma of fried foods, the TV trucks are lining Center St. and aides to Booker are scurrying around the neighborhood of the Robert Treat Hotel in street clothes, garment bags in tow.
Team Booker is anticipating a big night here in Newark, hoping the mayor will soon be propelled to the U.S. Senate.
With polls less than an hour from closing in one of the most unpredictable elections in recent memory, no one knows for certain how the voters will choose or how many there will be but Newark is preparing for a big party.
By 6:30 p.m., reporters ranging from Extra to Al Jazeera filed into the New Jersey Performing Arts Center while stagehands tested microphones.
Local officials said predicting the night’s outcome was hard but turnout looked pretty good.
The Booker campaign said they were showing about 1 million voters turned out, possibly more, but those numbers have not been verified.
Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin said mail-in ballots in this county, a somewhat reliable barometer, were favoring Booker 62 percent to Lonegan’s 38 percent.
“It looks like it’s trending that way for Essex,” Durkin said, but added, “This is one of those elections where you just don’t know what people are thinking.”
Meanwhile over at Lonegan’s HQ – At the Bridgewater Manor, Lautenberg spokesman Will Gattenby said the campaign has received several about 250 to 300 reports from around the state in which people having difficulty voting.
Some people have been denied provisional ballots, and others say they have been told by poll workers they had requested a mail in ballot when they hadn’t. There was one report in which a repair man was working on a poll machine while people were voting, he said.
The complaints came mostly from “conservative counties and towns” but also from Camden, he said.
“The trust of the voters is being breached,” Gattenby said. “They are trying to vote, but they haven’t gotten an opportunity.”
Turnout was light earlier in the day, but it’s been picking up in the evening, Gattenby said.
He acknowledged that Booker had raised $8 million more than Lonegan, but Gattenby said momentum is on Lonegan’s side. The campaign has raised $1 million in the last two months, and the get out the vote effort is strong. “This election has always been about turnout,” he said.