November 02, 2026
ELEMENT5 DIGITAL/UNSPLASH
The 2026 midterms feature a two critical races in the region that could sway control of the U.S. House.
Voters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey headed to the polls on Tuesday to decide several high-stakes races in the midterm elections.
Polls close at 8 p.m. and all results are unofficial until certified by election officials.
In the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey, Cory Booker (D) is widely expected to easily win a third term over Republican challenger Justin Murphy. Booker's campaign outraised Murphy's by a 50-to-1 margin and Booker has defeated each of his past three opponents — including in a 2013 special election — by at least 10 points.
Murphy, a Burlington County attorney and veteran, has campaigned on affordability issues with promises of tax cuts and reduced government spending. Booker's campaign calls for middle-class tax relief, a rollback of tariffs and tougher congressional oversight of the Trump administration's war powers and spending in Iran.
Booker has been among the Democrats' fiercest Trump critics in Congress, where his record-setting filibuster on the Senate floor last year signaled he could be motivated to make another presidential run. Booker last ran for president in 2020, but dropped out early when he fell behind in fundraising and lagged in national polls among Democrats.
Booker remains popular among Democratic voters in New Jersey and has not ruled out another run for president while seeking a third term in the Senate. A sizable victory over Murphy could give Booker a strong platform to raise his national profile next year.
Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is seeking a sixth term in Pennsylvania's 1st District, which covers all of Bucks County and a small section of Montgomery County. He faces a challenge from Democrat Bob Harvie, the vice-chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners.
Fitzpatrick has long positioned himself as a moderate with a bipartisan voting record, which has helped keep his seat relatively safe in the competitive swing district. He notably broke ranks with Republicans by voting against the final version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, and he criticized Republicans' inaction on the expiration of federal healthcare subsidies at the start of the year. Fitzpatrick sponsored a bipartisan bill to extend the subsidies, joining 16 other Republicans who worked with Democrats to pass the measure out of the House in January. The Senate still has not taken action on the proposed three-year extension.
Harvie, a former teacher who was elected as a Bucks County commissioner in 2019, has challenged Fitzpatrick's image as a moderate during this year's campaign. He has referred to Fitzpatrick as a "rubber stamp" for much of President Donald Trump's agenda. Since the start of Trump's second term, Fitzpatrick has voted with the president 70% of the time and with the majority of Republicans 77% of the time, a rate lower than any other House Republican.
Harvie's campaign website lists priorities that include middle-class tax cuts, campaign finance reform and a moratorium on new data center development in Bucks County. Harvie previously supported Amazon's plan to construct a hyper-scale data center in Falls Township, but has since called for tougher restrictions on developers. Fitzpatrick backs the project, which he said would "reshape our region" and drive economic growth.
In 2022 and 2024, Fitzpatrick defeated Democrat Ashley Ehasz by margins of 9.8% and 12.8%. This year's race appears to be much closer. Despite Fitzpatrick leading Harvie during much of the campaign, Harvie held a 2-point advantage in a New York Times and Siena University poll conducted Oct. 16-22. An internal poll conducted in October by Democrats at Global Strategy Group had the candidates even at 46% each among likely voters, with 8% still undecided, Politico reported.
Fitzpatrick gained a large fundraising advantage in the race, pulling in more than $709,000 compared with Harvie's roughly $409,000, based on FEC filings in October.
Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew is seeking his fifth term and faces a challenge from Democrat Zack Mullock, the mayor of Cape May. The district covers Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties, as well as parts of Gloucester and Ocean counties.
Van Drew, who was elected as a Democrat in 2018, switched parties in 2020 amid his opposition to impeachment proceedings against Trump during his first term. He won by a margin of 5.8% in in 2020 and cruised to victories over his Democratic opponents in the last two elections with margins greater than 15%.
In the days before Tuesday's election, Democrats were optimistic about Mullock's chances in a district that has been solidly Republican for the past three decades. Democrats held an advantage in early voting in the state, according to a New Jersey Monitor analysis, but redistricting in 2021 created a map more favorable to Republicans. Registered Democrats accounted for nearly 57% of the state's early vote this year, which totaled more than 1.2 million ahead of the Nov. 1 deadline, NJ.com reported.
At their lone debate in October, the two candidates sparred over immigration, data centers, energy policy and the war in Iran. Mullock, who opposes offshore wind projects in New Jersey, accused Van Drew of flipping on the issue since becoming a Republican after previously backing turbine development. Mullock also called for an end to the war in Iran, arguing Van Drew and other Republicans have failed to provide a check against the Trump administration, and he criticized the tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey communities.
FEC filings through Oct. 14 showed Van Drew had raised nearly $2.5 million compared with $960,948 raised by Mullock.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released in late October offered some hope for Democrats to give Van Drew a tougher challenge than the past two elections.
The survey found 55% of likely voters in the state supported Democratic congressional candidates compared with 32% backing Republicans running for Congress. The poll also found affordability was the top concern among likely voters in the state's congressional races, with 90% saying it would affect their vote. The next closest issues were gas prices at 87%, immigration at 83% and the war in Iran at 82%.
This story will be updated with results after polls close at 8 p.m.
