TRENTON, N.J. – It’s looking promising for Rik Mehta.
As of Wednesday night, Mehta had garnered 12,853 votes in vote-rich Bergen County; U.S. Senate GOP primary rival Hirsh Singh’s total stood at a comparatively weak 4,596. Nearby Passaic County (where Mehta was also the endorsed candidate) will resume counting ballots tomorrow from morning according to a Save Jersey source.
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Mehta’s 8,257 margin in Bergen almost entirely accounts for his present 8,391 lead statewide. He led in every county except for four: Cumberland, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May, the only four where Singh carried the county “line.” Singh’s monster 25,000-vote margin coming out of Ocean was negated by Mehta’s smaller but consistent wins everywhere else outside of Bergen.
The operative word for Team Mehta was “confident” heading into Thursday, but there were simply too many votes still outstanding on Wednesday evening to declare victory. Number are continuing to come in on a regular basis since ballots only needed to be postmarked (not received) on Election Day.
“While ballots are still being counted, we are excited to report that our lead is steadily growing statewide and we are winning nearly every county,” Mehta said in an afternoon statement released via social media. “We are extremely confident in victory and excited about taking the fight to career politician Cory Booker, but out of respect for the election officials across the state working hard to count all the votes – all of whom have been abused during this process by Phil Murphy’s foolish Vote-By-Mail mandate – we will let them complete their work today before making further comment.”
An Indian American pharmacist and attorney, Mehta would be the Republican Party’s first statewide candidate of Asian Pacific origin. Approximately 1 in 10 New Jerseyans are Asian Americans.
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