Cory Booker has won a third term representing New Jersey in the U.S. Senate, with the Associated Press calling the race Tuesday night over Republican challenger Justin Murphy, according to WHYY. An early results snapshot showed Booker with a commanding lead, though full, certified vote totals were not yet available when the race was called.
A Lopsided Early Count and a Historic Pattern
A results update posted at 8:04 p.m. showed Booker pulling 82.1% of the vote to Murphy's 13.4%, according to Daily Voice. That outlet also notes that New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972, a streak that now stretches into its sixth decade with Booker's win. Polls across the state opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m. on Election Day, per WHYY.
Booker, a Democrat and former Newark mayor who was first elected to the Senate in 2013, was considered the heavy favorite heading into the contest, according to the NJ.com account of the race. The New York Times results page described Murphy as a Republican attorney and the incumbent's general-election opponent.
Murphy's Affordability Pitch Against a Funding Gap
Murphy, a former deputy mayor of Tabernacle in southern New Jersey, built his campaign around affordability and the rising cost of living, as reported by ABC7 New York. That same report quoted Rutgers Eagleton Center director Ashley Koning, who pointed to the financial mismatch between the two campaigns as a factor shaping the race. “This is most likely spurred by the large lopsided funding that each candidate has,” Koning said.
Koning also suggested that broader national political dynamics might be enough to pull New Jersey voters to the polls regardless of the funding gap. “The national climate and context politically is galvanizing enough for New Jersey voters to turn out,” she told the outlet. According to FOX 29 Philadelphia, Booker's win also came against independent Veronica Fernandez and Socialist Workers Party candidate Joanne Kuniansky, though other reporting describes Kuniansky's ballot designation differently as an independent candidate alongside Fernandez.
Booker's Cost-Of-Living Pitch: The Keep Your Pay Act
On the campaign trail, Booker leaned into his own cost-of-living message, centered on a proposal he calls the Keep Your Pay Act. A description on Booker's official Senate page states that the plan would spare the majority of taxpayers from paying federal income tax on their first $75,000 in earnings, while also expanding tax credits such as the Child Tax Credit. “This means the majority of all taxpayers will pay no federal income tax on the first $75,000 of their earnings,” the senator's office said in the announcement.
FOX 29 Philadelphia also reported that Booker previously served on the Newark City Council and as mayor of Newark before his Senate career, and that he holds degrees from Stanford University, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale Law School. The outlet's report credited Booker with sponsoring the First Step Act and helping secure $6.8 billion in federal funding for the Hudson Tunnel project.
The win secures Booker's seat in Washington for another term, with full certified results from Tuesday's election still to come as counties continue their vote counts.
