Keep an eye on these New Jersey legislative districts on Election Day

All 120 seats in New Jersey's 40 legislative districts are on the ballot. Control of the Legislature hangs in the balance.

And if Republicans have any chance of taking back control, these districts will be key. They have seen the most spending, according to the Election Law Enforcement Commission, a major sign of their importance.

LD-2 (Atlantic)

State Sen. Vince Polistina (R-Atlantic) is being challenged by Democratic County Commissioner Caren Fitzpatrick.

The race has focused in part on Polistina’s opposition to a now-aborted wind power deal off its coast, as well as a brief period in which the Biden administration floated Atlantic City airport in Egg Harbor Township as one of 11 possible sites to house migrants from New York City. The idea, while nothing but a brief suggestion, stirred opposition from most local elected officials and put Democrats on the defensive by raising a policy of the unpopular president.

Incumbent Republican Assemblymembers Don Guardian and Claire Swift are being challenged by Democrats Alphonso Harrell and Lisa Bender.

A mysterious PAC called Jersey Freedom has surfaced late in the election encouraging right-leaning residents to cast their votes for two “conservative” independent candidates who have not actively campaigned. As in the 4th District, Jersey Freedom is promoting a third-party candidate as an alternative to Polistina, though the candidate — Libertarian Shawn Peck — denounced the ads and dropped out of the race, endorsing Polistina. Peck remains on the ballot.

—Matt Friedman

LD-3 (Cumberland/Gloucester/Salem)

Republican incumbent Ed Durr, who gained national attention in 2021 defeating Senate President Steve Sweeney, leads a ticket facing a tough challenge by former Democratic Assemblymember John Burzichelli, who lost on Sweeney’s ticket after 20 years in office.

Democrats did not see Durr as a threat two years ago and did little to campaign against him. This time they’re not holding back, highlighting Durr’s opposition to abortion rights and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to show voters a 2020 Facebook post in which Durr said “A woman does have a choice! Keep her legs closed” and that he “liked” a post that called for spaying women.

Durr has hit back at Burzichelli for “moonlighting as an X-rated movie producer” for producing a film in the early 1980s of a male strip show akin to Chippendales. Policy-wise, Burzichelli says the district has suffered under Durr, whom he accuses of focusing on culture war issues to the detriment of funding for the district, which for years had powerful representation in Trenton.

Durr is running on a ticket with Republican incumbent Assemblymember Bethanne McCarthy Patrick and Tom Tedesco, a Hopewell Township committeemember.

—Matt Friedman

LD-4 (Camden/Gloucester)

Republicans are going on the offensive in District 4, which is made up of roughly equal parts of Camden and Gloucester county. Twenty-year incumbent state Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) is retiring. Assemblymember Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) is leading a ticket to succeed him against Republican state Senate candidate Chris Del Borrello, a former Washington Township council member.

Running for Assembly are Republicans Amanda Esposito and Matthew Walker. Moriarty and his running mates, Dan Hutchison and Cody Miller, were unopposed in their Democratic Party’s primary.

—Matt Friedman

LD-8 (Atlantic/Burlington/Camden)

Democrats are also spending some resources in Burlington County’s District 8, where the GOP has nominated Latham Tiver, a former county freeholder, to replace the retiring state Sen. Jean Stanfield (R-Burlington). Tiver is running with Assembly incumbents Michael Torrisi and Brandon Umba against Democratic state Senate candidate Gaye Burton and Assembly candidates Andrea Katz and Anthony Angelozzi.

While candidates and independent expenditure groups had spent almost $1.7 million on the race a little less than two weeks ahead of the election, it’s a stretch for them, as even Republican-turned-Democratic incumbent state Sen. Dawn Addiego couldn’t hold the seat in 2021.

—Matt Friedman

LD-11 (Monmouth)

New Jersey’s 11th district may be the state’s most competitive, with almost record-setting spending flooding the race.

Incumbent state Sen. Vin Gopal faces GOP challenger Steve Dnistrian to represent Monmouth County. On the Assembly side, Kim Eulner and Marilyn Piperno face Democratic challengers Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul. Eulner and Piperno won the Assembly seats in 2021, defeating Gopal’s Democratic running mates to make the 11th New Jersey’s only split district.

The 11th is one of the nastier campaigns this year, too. The fight between Gopal and Dnistrian has taken on a national feel, with both candidates trying to tie the other to the extreme wing of their respective party. The intensity of these attacks, along with the spending, underscore how important it is to either party’s plans for control in Trenton.

— Mia McCarthy

LD-16 (Hunterdon/Mercer/Middlesex/Somerset)

The 16th legislative district is one of the most closely watched in the state this year.

Once longtime Republican territory — where 2021 gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli was once an Assemblymember — the district had swung favorable towards the Democrats over the past decade. Democrats were favored heading into Election Day, although the race remains highly competitive.

The district can also be a case-study in how effective focusing on abortion rights will be for Democrats. Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex), Assemblymember Roy Freiman (D-Somerset) and newcomer Mitchelle Drulis have in campaign advertisements emphasized supporting abortion rights and suggested GOP victories could imperil them.

Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Pappas, who ran against Zwicker for Senate in 2021, opposed abortion rights even in cases of rape and incest during his time in Congress in the 1990s. Clinton Councilmember Ross Traphagen, running on the GOP ticket for Assembly, has said he “believe[s] in a woman’s right to choose.” Political newcomer Grace Zhang, an accountant, is also on the GOP Assembly ticket.

The district is mostly parts of Hunterdon and Somerset County as well as the deep-blue towns of South Brunswick and Princeton.

— Daniel Han

LD-30 (Monmouth/Ocean)

The 30th legislative district does not have the contours of a competitive race.

The district voted for former President Donald Trump by around 35 points in 2020 and, in 2021, not a single town in the district went for Gov. Phil Murphy in his reelection bid.

It could, however, play a key role in the Democrats' margin of power in the Assembly. Rabbi Avi Schnall, a leader in Lakewood’s orthodox Jewish community, is running as a Democrat looking to take out incumbent Ned Thomson (R-Ocean). Schnall is a lifelong Republican and only recently joined the Democratic Party — so recent, in fact, that he didn’t even vote in the Democratic primary.

Schnall is part of Lakewood’s flourishing orthodox Jewish population, which is a key constituency in the district. The Lakewood Vaad, an orthodox Jewish leadership group, has thrown its support behind Schnall. The fast-growing Lakewood is now the fifth-largest municipality in the state, as well as the largest town in the district.

Schnall will run on a ticket with Stephen Dobbins for state Senate and Salvatore "Sal" Frascino for the other Assembly seat. They face Republican incumbents Sen. Bob Singer and Assemblymember Sean Kean, along with Thomson.

— Daniel Han

LD-38 (Bergen/Passaic)

Since the start of the 21st century, the North Jersey 38th legislative district has been represented almost exclusively by Democrats.

This election cycle, Republicans think that can change.

The district encompasses a blue-leaning part of Bergen County, but Republicans have been able to make the race competitive. Gov. Phil Murphy won the district by around five points in 2021. While Republicans are confident in their chances of potentially flipping seats in the district, it would come as a surprise.

Democrats are running a full slate of incumbents, with Sen. Joe Lagana and Assemblymembers Lisa Swain and Chris Tully (all D-Bergen). The GOP ticket includes Micheline Attieh for state Senate and Barry Wilkes and Gail Horton for Assembly.

— Daniel Han