By Matt Rooney
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Things are getting very interesting in Central Jersey (or whatever you want to call it, Save Jerseyans).
Yes, the embattled AP has generated quite a list of blown calls this cycle, but NJ-7 might top the list if current trends continue. After initially trailing the Democrat incumbent on Election Night by 28,383 votes 147,264 to 118,863), GOP State Senator Tom Kean Jr.’s once formidable deficit had shrunk to 5,496 (202,795 to 197,2999) as of about 8:45 p.m. on Thursday evening.
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We don’t know for sure how many ballots are still out there.
It could be 35,000 or over 50,000, and it’s believed that these ballots (or at least the ones in Somerset and Morris) lean decisively in favor of the GOP. Remember: unlike these Democrat ballot dumps you’ve heard about it battleground states, New Jersey held an all-remote election. Republicans tended to vote late this year and, sometimes, in person by casting provisional ballots.
What we do know: there’s enough still to count that we can say a Kean upset victory, while still a bit of an uphill fight, is no longer purely hypothetical. It’s a real possibility. Yesterday, 64% of the ballots out of suburban Union were Kean ballots. He can win – narrowly – if that trend continues.
As you can imagine, tensions are running a bit high over in the Democrat camp as the numbers continue to trick. The campaign of Tom Malinowski (who declared victory on the morning after Election Day) is now subtly walking back its victory declaration.
“We all have to be patient and trust in the democratic process, but we’re confident that when the votes have been counted, Tom Malinowski will be re-elected,” Malinowski’s manager told POLITICO on Wednesday.
Did you catch that? They’re “confident” Malinowski “we be re-elected.” They admit he hasn’t been reelected yet. They’re also not alone; unlike the AP, The New York Times moved the race back to undecided on Thursday.
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