Democrats Zwicker, Freiman, Drulis sweep 16th District elections

In a race that many predicted would be close, District 16 state Sen. Andrew Zwicker dashed the hopes for a political comeback by former Congressman Michael Pappas.

With 97% of the votes counted as of Wednesday morning, Zwicker is leading Pappas 31,747 to 24,747, a 12-point margin. Libertarian Richard Byrne got 846 votes.

The numbers are unofficial until all absentee and provisional ballots are counted.

In the race for two Assembly seats, incumbent Democrat Roy Freiman (31,294 votes) and Mitchelle Drulis (30,793 votes) defeated Republicans Grace Zhang (25,400 votes) and Ross Traphagen (25,136 votes).

The Democratic sweep was a major blow to the state's GOP hopes of retaking the majorities in both houses of the state Legislature.

The legislative races in District 16, which extends from High Bridge to Princeton, was reflective of the national partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans.

While the candidate slates offered genuine differences over the issues, both sides used the same rhetoric to characterize their opponents like their counterparts in the nation's capital.

The Democrats called the Republican candidates "extreme politicians" while the Republicans were calling their Democratic opponents "too extreme for District 16."

NJ election results 2023: Live updates from Central Jersey, races being called

The Democratic strategy was to connect the Republican candidates to former President Donald Trump while the Republicans tied the Democrats to Gov. Phil Murphy.

District 16 contains parts of four counties, including Clinton Town, Clinton Township, Flemington, High Bridge, Lebanon Borough, Raritan Township and Readington in Hunterdon; Branchburg, Hillsborough, Millstone, Montgomery and Rocky Hill in Somerset; South Brunswick in Middlesex and Princeton in Mercer.

District 16 had become one of the most closely watched legislative races in the state as Republicans hoped to put a dent the Democrats' long-standing majorities in the Senate and Assembly. Democrats hold a 46-34 edge in the Assembly, where 41 votes are needed for a majority, and a 25-15 lead in the Senate, where 21 votes are needed for majority control.

The district was once reliably Republican until it was reconfigured to include Princeton and South Brunswick, which gave the advantage to the Democrats.

But new district lines drawn after the 2020 Census have evened the advantage when solidly Republican Clinton Township was added, and Democratic Somerville was taken away.

It's now a battle of the Republican north against the Democratic south.

But big leads compiled by the Democrats in South Brunswick could not be overcome by the Republican edge in registration in the northern part of the district.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Democrats sweep 16th District races