By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Although the national political parties generally don’t spend much money in New Jersey, because it is a blue state that reliably votes Democrat (except for Governor,) the microanalysis can sometimes be fascinating.
I spent most of my years in Morris County, a part of New Jersey which is traditionally red, as is Monmouth County . Morris County towns, in general, are affluent, so the demographics determine the politics.
Ocean Grove has voted Republican in the past, while Neptune Township usually goes blue.
Ocean Grove has districts 1, 2 and 3, and each district has two voting machines. Neptune Township has a total of 20 districts.
The overall turnout on Tuesday was 36% of registered voters for Neptune Township, 38% for Ocean Grove, and 34% for Monmouth County. Nationwide it was 33%.
OG has 2,362 registered voters, and 896 voted. Neptune Township has nearly 19,000 registered voters, with 6,843 voting in this election.
Sen. Cory Booker received 56% of the NJ vote.
In the Senate race for New Jersey, Booker (D) received 4,520 votes in Neptune Twp., while Bell (R) received 2,150 votes. In Ocean Grove, Booker got 489 votes while Bell received 372.
Rep. Chris Smith, Ocean Grove’s Congressman.
For the House of Representatives, Rep. Smith Chris , of the NJ 4th Congressional District, a Republican, won again, with 68% of the vote. He has been in office since 1981.
In Neptune, Smith received 2, 580 votes vs. 4, 155 for Ruben Scolavino (D.) In Ocean Grove we had a tight race—— Smith received 445 votes vs. 407 for his opponent.
Fro Neptune Township Committee, an opposite trend was seen in Ocean Grove. Kevin McMillan (Dem.) and Rick Carlson (Rep) were competing for one seat on the all Democrat Township Committee.
Overall, in Neptune Township, Carlson got 2,531 votes vs. 4,055 for McMillan. However, in Ocean Grove, Carlson got 431 vs. 423 for McMillan. Does this say something about how Grovers feel regarding the current Committee, particularly McMillan? After all, McMillan got nearly twice as many votes across all of Neptune, but in the Grove, it’s another story. It’s time for an OG poll.
For County Freeholder, the two Republicans won handily, including in Ocean Grove. But in Neptune Twp, the Democrats received twice the votes of the Republicans.
The sample is small, but in Ocean Grove, the Senate vote went Democratic while the House seat was very close, with the incumbent winning.
Based on the Senate and Cpngressional vote, perhaps Ocean Grove is changing its political stripes due to a demographic shift. It will be interesting to see how our votes go in the presidential election two years from now.
THE TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS; “America the Beautiful.”
*Data courtesy of Rick Cuttrell, Clerk at Neptune Township