On the chilly Tuesday, Nov. 7, voters lined up in polling booths across the nation in order to cast their votes in citizen initiatives, mayoral races, state legislature elections, and two gubernatorial races. In New Jersey, all 120 seats of the state legislature were on the ballot this year. The 2023 elections were widely seen as a harbinger of the general election in 2024, with key issues such as abortion and marijuana legalization on the line.
In 2021, just after United States President Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans saw triumphs in states such as Virginia, winning the governorship and control of the state legislature, and were competitive for the gubernatorial election in the traditionally Democratic state of New Jersey. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, was able to retain control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 general election, despite polls indicating the contrary. Both parties have sought to increase their shares of state legislatures this year, campaigning on hot-button issues.
In New Jersey’s election, all 80 seats from the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the state Senate were on the ballot. While representative terms are two years long, senators are elected for a period of four years. Democrats started out holding 46 seats in the House of Representatives and 25 in the Senate; Republicans looked to gain a majority in these bodies by capitalizing on Biden’s middling approval ratings, which have hovered around 38% according to the polling platform FiveThirtyEight.
The night ended with a resounding victory for state Democrats, however, with Democratic candidates gaining five seats in the House of Representatives and retaining their 25-15 majority in the Senate. Of particular note were races in Districts 3, 11, and 30, where Democratic candidates defeated Republican incumbents and won races in Republican-leaning areas.
Democratic state senators Vin Gopal and Peter Zwicker fended off challenges from Republicans Steve Dnistrian and Michael Pappas respectively. According to the Associated Press, these races were some of the most expensive of the night, running into the millions. All eyes were on New Jersey after shocking results in 2021, when truck driver and first-time Republican nominee Edward Durr defeated Democratic Senate president Steve Sweeney.
This year, longtime Democratic assemblyman John Burzichelli deposed Durr with his campaign focusing on the health and reproductive rights of women, swaying votes by addressing an issue that affects those in both parties. Nationwide, proposals to protect the right to get an abortion proved popular up and down the ballot, with Ohio voters decisively voting yes on Issue 1, enshrining the right to get an abortion in the state constitution. In polls conducted by the Associated Press, two-thirds of American registered voters supported the right to get an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy.
In Ohio, the approval of Issue 1 means that a 2019 law that banned all abortions when fetal cardiac activity is detected, including cases of rape and incest, will be all but overturned. In other nationwide news, incumbent Kentucky governor Andy Beshear was re-elected in the Republican-leaning state. Ohio voters also legalized marijuana for adult recreational use by passing Issue 2.
This election was largely seen as a weathervane for the 2024 general election, where all seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs, as well as 33 seats in the United States Senate. It is forecasted that Democrats will campaign largely on the right to obtain an abortion after the overturn of the Roe v. Wade ruling in June 2022, while Republicans will campaign on issues such as school choice, which pushed Governor Glenn Youngkin to power in Virginia in 2021.
