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CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Where do you vote for New Jersey's 2025 primary election? Find your polling location
Voters sound of on New Jersey governor's race in Monmouth County Voters sound of on New Jersey governor's race in Monmouth County Voters sound of on New Jersey governor's race in Monmouth County Polls open Tuesday for New Jersey's 2025 primary election. If you didn't take advantage of early voting, here's how to find out where to cast your ballot. Where do I vote in New Jersey? Polling locations for New Jersey residents can be found using the state's online search tool. Users will need to enter their street address and ZIP code. Residents can also find their polling place information on sample ballots sent out by their county. Polling locations will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Do I need an ID to vote in New Jersey? New Jersey residents will only be asked to show ID when registering to vote or the first time they vote in person or by mail. In those cases, acceptable IDs include a passport, student ID, driver's license, government-issued ID or a document, such as a bank statement or government check, that includes a name and address. Can I drop off a mail-in ballot on Election Day? Vote-by-mail ballots cannot be returned to your Election Day polling location. If you want to drop off a vote-by-mail ballot in person, it can be placed in your county's secure ballot drop box or delivered to your county's Board of Elections Office on Election Day. Ballots must be dropped off by 8 p.m. Click here to find your county's secure ballot drop box locations, and click here to find your county's Board of Elections Office. Vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before 8 p.m. on Election Day and received by your county's Board of Elections on or before June 16. Does your polling place change automatically if you move? No. If you move, you must update your voter registration information before Election Day. You can do so HERE.
CBS News
03-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
How and when to vote early in New Jersey 2025 primary election
New Jersey residents are getting ready to vote for a new governor in the June 2025 primary elections. Today is the first day of early voting ahead of election day. Here's everything to know about when and where to vote early in the Garden State. Early voting in New Jersey New Jersey is holding six days of early voting, from Tuesday, June 3 through Sunday, June 8. Polls open at 10 a.m. every day and will close at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 6 p.m. on Sunday. Early voting sites can be different from Election Day locations, so be sure to find yours ahead of time online here. Election Day is Tuesday, June 10. Whoever wins the democratic and republican primaries will go on to the general election in November. Who's running for governor of New Jersey? As Murphy's time in office comes to a close, several candidates are running to replace him. The democratic candidates include Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller and former State Senate President Stephen Sweeney. The republican side includes state Sen. Jon Bramnick, businessman Justin Barbera, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and former radio and TV host Bill Spadea. Both primaries will be held on June 10, followed by the general election on Nov. 4. Stick with CBS News New York and Political Reporter Marcia Kramer for the latest developments and expert analysis in the race.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OPINION: OPINION: Unleashed primary voters bode well for centrists, Bregman campaign
May 31—In a recent podcast of "No Doubt About It" with Mark and Krysty Ronchetti, the former Republican gubernatorial and U.S. Senate nominee asked my thoughts about the 2026 governor's race. Being a political commentator by trade, I wasn't hesitant, even a year ahead of the primaries. I told Mark I was leaning toward Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman in the Democratic primary, pointing out that crime is driving the politics across New Mexico. After all, Bregman has strong credentials as a courtroom prosecutor and a decades-long civil and criminal defense attorney who has litigated some of the state's highest-profile cases. Bregman is also chairman of the Governor's Organized Crime Commission, former chairman of the New Mexico Racing Commission, a former Albuquerque city councilor, a former chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, has been a frequent donor to Democratic candidates over the years and, most importantly, won his first election last year, defeating former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Damon Martinez in the Democratic primary by 12.5 percentage points to remain DA after being appointed to the position by the governor in January 2023. Mark wasn't buying it. He predicted former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland would be deified by progressive Democrats as potentially the nation's first Native American woman governor, and that Haaland would win the Democratic primary by 20 points while avoiding debates with Bregman. We both seemed to agree that Haaland is as uninspiring as a cloudy sunset, and that Bregman fills a room with his presence. But we're worlds apart on who will prevail in the primary. The environmental lobby will no doubt favor Haaland, but her platform of leaving everything alone and running in place hardly offers a vision of growth and prosperity for a state stuck in 50th in so many categories, not the least of which is crime, as we hold the spot as the most dangerous state in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Mark Ronchetti pointed out that Democratic candidates at the end of the political spectrum tend to defeat moderates in primaries. But in the last good statewide Democratic primary in 2022, then-Bernalillo County District Attorney Raùl Torrez repeatedly hammered then-State Auditor Brian Colón in TV ads about remarks Colón had made in one of his podcasts about defunding the police. Colón lost the Democratic primary to Torrez by almost 10,000 votes, or 7 percentage points, as Torrez claimed and held the middle ground. On the Republican side, Ronchetti won the 2022 gubernatorial GOP primary by a landslide when he faced several more traditional Republicans, and Ronchetti racked up a 30-point win in the 2020 U.S. Senate GOP primary running against more conservative Republicans. That said, I missed a key point in the podcast: Independents will be far more likely to vote in New Mexico's primaries next year, and both sides of the political aisle acknowledge they are the X factor. New Mexico has long-maintained a sizable portion of stubborn voters who do not want to be affiliated with either major political party. Of the more than 1.3 million registered voters in New Mexico as of April 30, 310,828 of them were registered no party/independent/declined to state, equating to 23.2% of the electorate. Los Alamos and Doña Ana counties had the highest percentages of independents, topping 28% in both counties. According to the Secretary of State's Office, the majority of new voters in 2018 registered as independent. From 1990 to 2000, independent voters in New Mexico increased by nearly three times, growing from 6.5% to 17%. With the passage and enactment of Senate Bill 16 earlier this year, that growing bloc of independent voters will be able to choose a major party's primary ballot in 2026 and vote for candidates within that primary, without having to drop their party affiliation. Previously, independents could vote in primary elections, but only if they first changed their party affiliation to Democratic or Republican. Not many voters went through the hassle. Fewer than 1% of independent voters cast ballots in the state's 2022 primaries. The landscape will be much different in 2026, with 23.2% of the electorate up for grabs by the two major party primaries. That bodes well for candidates like Bregman, and presents problems for partisans like Haaland. A third Democrat, former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima, announced his gubernatorial campaign on Tuesday. But as political pollster Brian Sanderoff has noted, Las Cruces is in the El Paso media market and few outside that market know of the former four-term mayor. If anything, Miyagishima could pull votes from Haaland in southern New Mexico, as could Lt. Gov. Howie Morales of Silver City, who is also mulling a run for chief executive. The Republican gubernatorial field at this point is lackluster. Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull is set to launch his campaign next month. Retired state Supreme Court Justice Judith Nakamura, who in 2016 was the last Republican to win a statewide election, and cannabis entrepreneur and former state Cabinet secretary Duke Rodriguez are also considering GOP runs. Ronchetti told me he's not ruling out a run for governor in 2026, but he has other things going on now, including twice-weekly podcasts. As the Journal reported recently, the money race is already in full swing. Bregman has announced raising more than $1 million in campaign contributions since launching his campaign in April, while Haaland has received nearly $3.7 million in donations since announcing her campaign in mid-February. To put that in perspective, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham spent roughly $13 million on her successful reelection campaign in 2022, while Ronchetti spent more than $9 million. There's an old saying in tennis doubles: "The middle solves the riddle." With the potential influx of 310,000 independent voters, the Democratic and Republican candidates who find that middle court will be in good stead in 2026. And I remain unconvinced a Biden administration Cabinet secretary who was not forthcoming about the former president's mental and physical health decline can find that sweet spot.
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Could a British Fox News personality fix Republicans' losing streak in California?
California is usually regarded as a political graveyard for ambitious Republicans, but Steve Hilton, the smiling, bald-headed former British political consultant turned Fox News personality, has a few theories of how to turn that around. Theory number one is that the Democrats, who have not lost a statewide election in almost 20 years and enjoy a supermajority in the California legislature, make the argument for change more or less by themselves, because the state has become too expensive for many of its residents and is mired in a steep budgetary crisis. Even the current governor, Gavin Newsom, argues that his party's brand has become toxic, that Democrats across the country have lost their way, and 'people don't think we make any damn sense'. The leading Democratic candidates to succeed him have been similarly blunt. 'Everything costs too much!' the former congresswoman Katie Porter says on her campaign website. 'Homes and rent are too expensive,' the former state attorney general Xavier Becerra concurs on his. 'Folks can barely cover their grocery bills. Healthcare costs are incredibly high.' To which Hilton responds gleefully: 'We know! You did it to us!' Given the depth of the malaise – 'Califailure', the title of his campaign book calls it – Hilton believes that next year's governor's race offers Republicans a unique opportunity. If even Democrats think it's time for change, he argues, wouldn't it make sense for voters to look elsewhere for a solution? And that leads him to theory number two: that an engaging, energetic, unorthodox-sounding candidate like himself might just be the man for a job. In the four weeks since he announced his run for governor, Hilton and a skeleton staff have crisscrossed the state in a distinctive white pickup truck emblazoned with the Trump-like slogan 'Make California Golden Again'. He has spoken at universities and presidential libraries, made common cause with hardcore Trump Republicans, and struck up conversations with voters in some of the most liberal corners of the state. His style has been casual – he dresses most commonly in a T-shirt and sneakers as he sits down in coffee shops or addresses so-called 'policy forums' for supporters – and he keeps a video crew close to post updates on social media and underline how little he looks or talks like a regular Republican candidate. Back in Britain, where he was an adviser to the Conservative prime minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2012 and, later, a champion of Brexit, Hilton worked largely behind the scenes. He has been much more visible since as a Fox News host and contributor, and has honed a public persona that remains unabashedly rightwing but is also adept at presenting complex political viewpoints in easily relatable terms. So far, at least, Hilton's British origins have proven more of an asset than a liability. ('He just sounds smarter because of his accent,' the moderator at a Republican gathering in Santa Barbara said. 'It's almost not fair.') Even his bare scalp has contrasted favorably in some quarters with Newsom's famously coiffed full head of hair. Hilton's core message is simple: that Californians want good jobs, good homes and good schools for their kids. And the reason too many feel these goals are eluding them, he says, is because of 'one-party rule and really bad ideas' from the Democrats. That diagnosis certainly has the potential to resonate widely, particularly among working-class voters who, according to Hilton, are 'being completely screwed' by high living costs, high taxes and a public school system whose test scores in English and math consistently lag behind the national average. 'It doesn't have to be like this,' Hilton told the Santa Barbara crowd. 'We don't have to put up with this.' The question, though, is whether Hilton is the alternative voters are craving– and that's where observers believe he may be on shakier ground, particularly since his strongest political connections are with the Trump end of the Republican party. Even Hilton's more moderate ideas reflect a standard Republican playbook of cuts to taxes, public spending and business regulations – a platform Californians have rejected time and again. Dan Schnur, a former Republican campaign consultant who teaches political communications at Berkeley and the University of Southern California, thinks that behind the moderate facade Hilton is in fact 'running pretty hard as a Maga candidate' on a range of issues from immigration to homelessness. Hilton has a slightly different theory of the case. He sees parallels between California in 2025 and Britain in the late 1970s, when it was known as the 'sick man of Europe', and envisions himself as a version of Margaret Thatcher providing a much-needed rightward course correction. He drew laughter and applause in Santa Barbara when he complained about California's 'nanny state bossy bureaucracy' – a Thatcher-inspired turn of phrase – and when he borrowed from a celebrated 1979 Conservative campaign slogan to say 'California isn't working'. Whether that message can work with independents and Democrats – constituencies he has to sway in large numbers to win – is far from clear. However much Hilton talks about 'commonsense' solutions, his early champions include Charlie Kirk, who runs the Trump-supporting youth group Turning Point, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech entrepreneur turned politician who is old friends with Vice-President JD Vance and is now running for governor of Ohio – both of whom would suggest he has hitched his wagon to a more radical agenda. Even when forging connections in working-class, heavily Latino East Los Angeles, Hilton has relied on a local Trump activist, now in charge of the White House faith office, who in turn introduced him to Maga-friendly grassroots groups with names like the Conservative Comadres and Lexit (for Latinos Exiting the Democratic Party). The problem is not that Hilton's new friends in East LA – many of them small business owners – do not reflect broader frustrations when they talk about working hard and having far too little to show for it. They almost certainly do. The problem is that Trump's brand of working-class populism is toxic in California – vastly more so than the Democrats – and growing only more so as Trump's chaotic second term in the White House unfolds. An LA Times opinion poll earlier this month showed 68% of Californians disapproved of the president's job performance and thought the country was on the wrong track – numbers that many political analysts expect to worsen as the effects of Trump's trade war kick in. Hilton himself makes light of this problem, arguing that if he runs an energetic, attractive enough campaign it will cut across the political spectrum and create its own momentum. 'We've just learned that California is the fourth biggest economy in the world, and that's great,' he said in an interview, 'but it isn't an economy that works for the people who live here … We are building a movement and a coalition for change.' Soon, though, he is likely to be pulled in different directions, because the logic of California's primary system requires him to beat every other Republican before he can even think about the Democrats. And, in the age of Trump, there's no competition between Republicans that does not require showing obeisance to the president. 'The association's going to be there, whether it results in a formal endorsement or not,' Schnur said. 'Trump's coat-tails are much longer in a primary than in a general election, which is good news for Hilton in the spring but a bigger obstacle in the fall.' Hilton's stiffest Republican competitor so far, the Riverside county sheriff, Todd Bianco, has already run into trouble with the Trump faithful because he took a knee in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters in the wake of the George Floyd killing in 2020. (Bianco, who generally talks and acts like a Trump-aligned Republican, insists he was tricked into kneeling when he thought he was being asked to pray – a version at variance with video footage from the time.) At the Santa Barbara event, Hilton looked almost bashful when asked what Trump thought of his decision to run and gave only the vaguest of answers. It is unlikely to be the last time he will field such a question, though, or risk alienating some part of his target electorate with his response. Hilton describes the task ahead as 'possible, but difficult'. His chances most likely rest on another theory of his – that the rightward swing the country experienced last November was not a one-off, but a trend still gathering momentum. Hilton points to all the ways California was part of that national trend in 2024 – the 10 counties that flipped from blue to red, the rejection of liberal district attorneys and mayors up and down the state, the call for a stiffer approach to law and order in a key statewide ballot initiative – and concludes that 'Californians voted Republican without realising it.' The last time Trump was president, though, the midterm elections produced a major swing in the other direction, in California and across the country, and most political analysts expect the same thing next year. If office-holders can justifiably point the finger at Washington – for shortages on the shelves, or higher prices incurred by tariffs, or immigrant laborers vanishing from key industries – voters are likely to be more forgiving of their leaders' own shortcomings. 'It would be much easier to make the case against the Democratic establishment if there weren't a Republican president,' Schnur said. 'An entire generation of Californians has come of voting age automatically dismissing the possibility of supporting a Republican candidate … That doesn't mean a Republican can't get elected governor, but it's a very steep uphill fight.'
