Overview and Live Results: New Jersey Primary

New Jersey and Virginia are the only states with gubernatorial and legislative elections in 2025. New Jersey voters will select nominees in Tuesday's primary. Results are on this page.

There are also a number of legislative special elections Tuesday.  Special Election Live Results >>

Virginia's primary is next week. That state's nominees for governor have already been determined. There will be Democratic primaries for Lt. Governor (the office is elected separately from governor) and Attorney General. There will also be some nominating contests in each party for seats in the House of Delegates. 

New Jersey Primary Overview and Results

The Garden State holds primaries for governor and for seats in the General Assembly. Nominees will advance to the November 4 general election.

Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.

Governor

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is ineligible to run for a third term. Both parties are holding contested primaries. 

Six high-profile candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination. These are ordered by an average of the two most independent recent public polls of the race.

• Mikie Sherrill, U.S. Rep. District 11 (30%)
• Ras Baraka, Newark Mayor (16%)
• Steven Fulop, Jersey City Mayor (15%)
• Josh Gottheimer, U.S. Rep. District 5 (11%)
• Sean Spiller, NJ Education Assn. President (10%)
• Stephen Sweeney, Former NJ Senate President (7%)

While Sherrill has the lead in these surveys, we'd be a little cautious in that they were both conducted about a month ago. Politico notes that "each of the Democrats do have a conceivable path to victory on June 10." 

Geoffrey Skelley, formerly of 538.com, has a good piece on the dynamics of this crowded primary and some of the historical context. He has published it on his free Substack 'National Bear-Garden'. 

Prediction markets are giving Sherrill a roughly 90% chance of winning (as of publication time). These markets often respond quickly as results come in, so we've included an embed for Sherrill's market odds. 

There are five candidates seeking the Republican nod. Endorsed last month by Donald Trump, 2021 gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli is favored to again represent the party. 

Ciattarelli is a former member of the General Assembly. His main challenger is Bill Spadea, a radio talk show host. 

An Emerson College poll in May showed Ciattarelli with 44% support, with Spadea at 18%. 

Citattarelli outperformed expectations in the November, 2021 general election, losing to Gov. Murphy by only 3%. 

State Senate

There are 40 Senate districts in New Jersey. Democrats hold a 25-15 edge. The next regular elections, for a four-year term, are in 2027. 

A special election in District 35 will take place in November. This seat was vacated by Democrat Nellie Pou at the end of 2024 after she was elected to Congress.

The Passaic County Democratic Party appointed Benjie Wimberly on an interim basis. Wimberly and Republican Frank Filippelli will oppose each other. They'll be officially nominated after uncontested primaries Tuesday.

General Assembly

There are also 40 Assembly districts in New Jersey, each with the same boundaries as the corresponding State Senate district. However, each district has two assembly members. The Assembly is comprised of 52 Democrats and 28 Republicans. Assembly terms are two years. 

As there are two seats in each district, there will be two nominees from each primary.

Calendar

Scheduled Elections

• June 17
  • Virginia Primary
• June 24
  • Buffalo Mayor Primary
  • New York City Mayor Primary
• August 5
  • Detroit Mayor Primary
  • Seattle Mayor Primary

Congressional Special Elections

• July 15
  • Arizona District 7 (Primary)
    • General Election September 23
• September 9
  • Virginia District 11
• November 4
  • Texas District 18

Legislative Special Elections

• June 24
  • Alabama Senate District 5
  • California Assembly District 63 (Primary)
    • General Election August 26 (if needed)
  • Florida Senate District 15 and House District 40 (Primary)
    • General Election September 2
  • New Hampshire House District Strafford 12
• July 8
  • Rhode Island Senate District 4 (Primary)
    • General Election August 5
• July 15
  • Alabama House District 12 (Primary)
    • Runoff (if needed) August 12