Something Incredible Happened in New Jersey's Third District on Election Night

As Matt detailed Tuesday night, the New Jersey gubernatorial race is shockingly close. Ahead of Election Day, polls showed Gov. Phil Murphy ahead 11 points—which would have been unthinkable even a year ago. But that’s not the only race worth watching in the state. Something incredible happened down ballot.

Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) and other Assembly Democrats’ seats are “imperiled” in the 3^rd District.

The New Jersey Globe retracted its early call declaring Sweeney, Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro), and Assemblyman Adam Taliaferro (D-Woolwich) won reelection.

And their seats aren't in jeopardy from seasoned politicians. “Sweeney and his Assembly slate faced an underfunded challenge from commercial truck driver Ed Durr, EMT Bethanne McCarthy-Patrick, and realtor Beth Sawyer in a district that narrowly voted for Donald Trump twice,” the Globe reported.

How underfunded?

Sweeney and his incumbent Democratic running mates were in a close race last night to a Republican slate that reported raising all of $10,000 as of 11 days before the election. The AP had him leading last night by about five points, but those numbers don't square with what I took off the county clerk websites, which showed Durr leading . And both his running mates are trailing.

[Update: According to NJ.com, Durr is up, 51.61 percent to 48.39 percent]

And with 99.37 percent reporting, McCarthy Patrick and Sawyer are still ahead in their Assembly races against the incumbent Democrats.

Something Incredible Happened in New Jersey's Third District on Election Night

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