June 02, 2026
Michael Candelori/for PhillyVoice
In Tuesday's primary election in New Jersey, four Republcans are facing off in the race for U.S. Senate to challenge incumbent Democrat Cory Booker in November. In the state's 2nd Congressional District, four Democrats are vying for the party's nomination to run against incumbent Republican Jeff Van Drew.
Four Republican candidates are vying for the party's nomination Tuesday in the New Jersey primary for U.S. Senate, hoping to unseat Democrat Cory Booker from the office he's held since 2013.
The GOP field faces long odds in November in a state that has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972. The last time a Republican held the office in New Jersey was in 1982, following the resignation of a Democrat.
Tuesday's race is a contest between attorney Justin Murphy, surgeon Robert Lebovics, former New Jersey state trooper Richard Tabor and broadcaster Alex Zdan. Booker is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Murphy, a resident of Tabernacle in Burlington County, has campaigned on reducing the nation's foreign energy dependence and promoting the expansion of energy projects, including new nuclear facilities, on federal lands. He has also called for military presence along the U.S. border, aggressive deportation of criminals and a 1980s-style campaign against drug use.
Lebovics, an otolaryngologist from Englewood in Bergen County, has run a campaign focused on lowering the cost of living in New Jersey and making healthcare more affordable. He has also called for federal measures to ensure the solvency of Social Security, strengthening the quality of education and taking steps to prepare the American workforce for the impact of artificial intelligence.
Tabor is a U.S. Army veteran and former police officer who touts his background growing up in the housing projects of Elizabeth in Union County. His campaign calls for lowering taxes and fees, reducing federal obstacles to affordable housing and lowering healthcare and transportation costs. Tabor also aims for tougher policies on crime and securing the U.S. border against drugs, weapons and human trafficking.
Tabor was suspended by the New Jersey State Police in March amid an internal investigation into his role in a wrongful death lawsuit connected to a 2022 car crash on the Garden State Parkway. The family of the victim who named Tabor in the suit — which was settled last fall — alleged his actions following the crash were negligent.
Zdan, a longtime reporter and conservative political commentator, spent years writing for News 12 New Jersey and anchoring their "Power & Politics." On his campaign website, Zdan describes himself as an outsider aiming to take down "Washington elitist" Cory Booker with a platform focused on dismantling the abuses of pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, raising standards for food safety and cleaning up environmental waste.
Republicans have been optimistic about building support in New Jersey, where President Donald Trump cut his margin of defeat from 16 percentage points in 2020 to six points in the 2024 presidential election. State records show about 36% of voters — roughly 2.4 million people — are unaffiliated with a political party and could be swayed to vote Republican, depending on the race.
In national and statewide races, recent trends in New Jersey do not bode well for Republicans.
Two years ago, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D) defeated his Republican opponent, Curtis Bashaw, by a margin of nearly 10 points to claim the seat of longtime Sen. Robert Menendez, who had resigned after his conviction on bribery and extortion charges.
In last November's gubernatorial race, Democrat Mikie Sherrill easily defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli by a margin of more than 14 points. Four years earlier, Ciattarelli lost a close race by a margin just over three points to incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy.
The winner of Tuesday's Senate primary will need to contend with Trump's sinking approval rating, which sits under 40% in most national polls. In New Jersey, a Rutgers-Eagleton poll in March found just 26% of survey takers had a favorable impression of the president.
Booker will enter the November election with more than $30 million raised for his campaign and strong momentum as one of the Democrats' most outspoken critics of Trump, including his record-setting marathon speech on the Senate floor last year in protest of the administration's policies.
On the Democratic side, four candidates are running in the 2nd Congressional District for the chance to challenge Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew in November.
The 2nd District covers all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties along with parts of Gloucester and Ocean counties. Van Drew was first elected as a Democrat in 2018, but he switched parties the following year after refusing to vote to impeach Trump during his first term.
Van Drew is now in his fourth term in Congress and running unopposed in the Republican primary, but Democrats believe they have a shot at defeating him in the general election as they aim to flip the House. Republicans currently hold a 217-212 edge in the lower chamber, plus an independent also caucuses with the GOP. It's the most narrowly divided House majority since the Great Depression.
The Democrats running Tuesday are Tim Alexander, a civil rights attorney and former law enforcement officer; Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock; Terri Reese, who worked for the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development; and Bayly Winder, a former official for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Alexander faced Van Drew for the seat in 2022 and lost by a wide margin. Then in 2024, Van Drew easily defeated attorney Joe Salerno.
Entering Tuesday's Democratic primary, Winder was viewed as the front-runner with the biggest fundraising advantage and an endorsement from the New Jersey Citizen Action PAC.
Winder's campaign has focused on opposition to data center development in New Jersey, specifically the contentious proposal for a 2.6 million-square-foot project in Vineland. Van Drew's campaign reportedly received contributions from the project's developers, but the congressman distanced himself from the proposal in the run-up to Tuesday's primary.
"I am not a local elected official, so I can't grant them a permit or not grant them a permit," Van Drew said during an On New Jersey interview with Bill Spadea in May. "There's no federal permits involved. There's no federal leases involved."
Mullock has campaigned in the Democratic primary as an independent voice for South Jersey. His campaign has centered on supporting small businesses, expanding Medicare, promoting affordable housing development and improving services for veterans.
Reese is running as a progressive with affordability, healthcare and sustainability as her campaign's top priorities.
Alexander's latest congressional run is focused on criminal justice reform, expanding healthcare access and developing housing for working families that have been priced out of their communities.
All six counties in the 2nd District voted for Trump in the 2024 election, but three of them (Atlantic, Cumberland and Gloucester) turned blue and supported Sherrill in the Democrats' landslide gubernatorial victory last November.
This story will be updated with results from Tuesday's primary election.
