By Donald Gilpin

With the wrap-up of the June primary, New Jersey voters and candidates are setting their sights on the November general election.

The national races, with Congress, the Senate and the U.S. presidency on the line, appear to be more hotly contested than the local contests.

Democrat Mark Freda is running unopposed for reelection as Princeton mayor, while in their bids for two Princeton Council seats in November, new candidate Brian McDonald and incumbent Leighton Newlin are so far facing no competition.

In the primary race to represent the Democratic Party in the fall election for the New Jersey U.S. Senate seat currently held by Robert Menendez, Andy Kim handily defeated two other candidates, receiving 75 percent of the vote to 15.9 percent for labor organizer and political leader Patricia Campos-Medina, and 9.1 percent for Lawrence Hamm, human rights activist and leader of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign in New Jersey. Tammy Murphy, wife of Gov. Phil Murphy, entered the primary race for Senate, but ended her campaign in March.

Menendez, who is on trial in Manhattan on federal corruption charges, was not on the primary ballot, but he has filed to appear on the November ballot as an independent candidate.

Winning the Republican primary and a place on the November ballot against Kim was Curtis Bashaw, a Cape May real estate developer, who defeated Trump-endorsed Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, Navy veteran Albert Harshaw, and former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy. Bashaw won 45.5 percent of the Republican votes cast, with Glassner at 38.5 percent, Murphy at 11.3 percent, and Harshaw at 4.7 percent.

In the race to represent New Jersey’s 12th district — including portions of Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex, and Union counties — in the U.S. Congress, Bonnie Watson Coleman will be on the ballot for the Democrats in the fall after defeating Daniel Dart in the Democratic primary, and Darius Mayfield will be the Republican candidate with his victory over Thomas Jones in the Republican primary.

Seeking her sixth term in Congress, Watson Coleman received 86.7 percent of the vote to 13.3 percent for Dart, who is a Princeton resident and community leader, former member of the Princeton Board of Education, and former COO of Merrill Lynch Investment Management.

Mayfield, whose campaign slogan is “Not Black. Not White. American,” received 84.5 percent of the Republican vote in the primary to Jones’ 15.5 percent. Mayfield is a businessman, political consultant, and podcast host. Watson Coleman previously defeated him in the 2022 congressional election.

Also on the primary ballots, running unopposed for their parties’ nominations, were three Democratic and three Republican candidates for Mercer County Commissioners. Incumbent Democrats Kristin L. McLaughlin, Terrance Stokes, and Samuel Frisby will be running for reelection in November against Republican challengers Andrew Curcio, Pedro Reyes, and Denise “Neicy” Turner.

New Jersey Democratic voters faced a new ballot design in the primary race, with the disallowed “party line” format replaced by a “block ballot.” Kim had challenged the party line ballot, and officials were forced to redesign New Jersey’s Democratic ballots, eliminating preferential positions that had traditionally been given to candidates endorsed by local party leaders. Republican primary ballots were unchanged, but what the ballots will look like in the fall remains uncertain, with outstanding cases and constitutional questions pending.