After gains in 2021, will GOP take over New Jersey legislature?
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS/AP) -- In the Garden State, the entire state Legislature is a battleground this Election Day.
The state wraps up voting Tuesday with all 120 seats between the Senate and Assembly on the ballot. Republicans are fighting to control either chamber for the first time since 2001.
At stake is control of the 80-member Assembly and 40-seat Senate, with Democrats currently dominating both chambers, as well as holding the governorship.
The GOP has refrained from declaring its members would recapture control of either chamber after more than two decades. But they sounded optimistic after picking up seven legislative seats in 2021, when Gov. Phil Murphy won reelection by a slimmer margin than polls had projected.
Murphy defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli 51.2% to 48%.
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Candidates in this year's contested races each ran on their own issues. But overall, Democrats focused on a number of property tax rebates they delivered over the last two years as well as pledging to defend abortion rights.
Republican campaigns in the state focused in part on ending Democrats' two-plus decades of control, and leaned heavily on what candidates called the state's failure to recognize parental rights in schools. The GOP is specifically opposed to a lawsuit by the state Attorney General's Office that would prevent three school districts from notifying parents of a student's transgender identity.
Offshore wind farms, which Murphy and Democrats have pushed and passed legislation to support, also dominated the election in key battleground districts. The final days of the campaign got a shock when Danish wind company Orsted, which had planned two offshore projects along the Jersey Shore, abruptly scuttled their plans. It was a blow to Murphy specifically and Democrats in general.
Republicans said it was a victory for grassroots opposition to wind farms as well as a sign Democrats blundered on a major piece of their agenda.
Democrats hold a 25-15 seat advantage in the Senate and a 46-34 edge in the Assembly.
New Jersey's Legislature has 40 total districts, with each sending one senator and two Assembly members to Trenton. Both parties typically run all three candidates together on a ticket. Among the most closely watched races this year is the 11th District, where Democrats control the Senate seat and the GOP has one of the two Assembly spots.
Voting started in late September when the first mail-in ballots went out. The state also offered early in-person voting. Polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.