In Atlantic County, Sen. Jim Whelan defeated GOP Assemblyman Vince Polistina. In Bergen County, Sen. Bob Gordon edged out GOP Freeholder Chairman John Driscoll Jr. Republicans held both Assembly seats in the 2nd District, ensuring local representation would remain politically split.
Voters in New Jersey also approved a ballot question to legalize sports betting at casinos and race tracks, provided a federal ban is lifted.
Despite Christie's personal popularity and ability to raise millions for his party, Republicans' hopes were dashed by 10 p.m. that Tuesday would be a good night for the party.
"My friends, I have a feeling there is no party at Drumthwacket tonight," Gordon said in reference to the governor's mansion in Princeton.
Christie repeatedly downplayed expectations for Republicans on the ballot, but he campaigned and raised money for select candidates and hoped to make symbolic inroads in the Democratic majorities.
"It's not a referendum on my governorship," Christie declared.
Democrats control the Senate 24-16 and the Assembly 47-33. All 120 legislative seats were being decided Tuesday.
The state's 40 legislative districts, redrawn this year to reflect population shifts recorded in last year's census, favored incumbents.
This is the first election with the new legislative map. The map was drafted by Democrats and gave electoral security to most sitting lawmakers, regardless of party. Redistricting also changed the timetable for the election; candidates had just a week between the time the map was finalized and the deadline to enter the June primary elections. That tight schedule may have kept some prospective candidates out of the race.
The only statewide ballot question asked voters whether they support the legalization of sports betting if a federal ban is lifted.
Sports betting's leading advocate, Sen. Ray Lesniak of Union, said he would introduce legislation Thursday that would allow the Casino Control Commission to grant sports betting licenses to casinos and race tracks. If the legislation is enacted, the state would pursue action in federal court to overturn the betting ban.
In the legislative elections, Christie had said he'd consider the midterm elections a win for the GOP if the party did not lose any seats. He said every governor in the past 48 years except Jim McGreevey lost seats during the midterm elections.
The Republican State Committee, flush with cash thanks to Christie's ability to raise money, had spent $2.2 million as of Oct. 17, compared with $689,000 spent by the Democratic State Committee, election reports show.
On the county level, Christie said he was hoping to wrest control of freeholder boards from Democrats in Cumberland, Gloucester, Passaic and Salem counties. Republicans also were hoping to wipe out the Democrats altogether on the GOP-controlled Bergen and Monmouth freeholder boards. County-level gains by the GOP would better position Christie and the Legislature in 2013.
At the local level, voters in Princeton Township and Princeton Borough decided to combine their two towns.
Borough voters passed the measure Tuesday by a margin of about 3-to-2. It was even more decisive in the township, where it passed by a margin of more than 5-to-1. The merger takes effect in 2013.
At least three times in the past 60 years, the communities had rejected a merger.
In the southern New Jersey community of Moorestown, residents voted to allow alcohol sales in the town for the first time in nearly a century, according to the Courier-Post. The measure was pushed by the owners of the Mooretown Mall, which says it would have more business if it could have restaurants that serve liquor.
Voters in Cherry Hill, one of the state's larger suburbs and a Democratic stronghold, were choosing a new mayor. Republican Stephen Buividas, an attorney, and Democrat Chuck Cahn, a semiretired businessman, competed to replace the retiring Bernie Platt. Platt, a Democrat, has been mayor of the township of 71,000 near Philadelphia since 2002.
In Gloucester County, Adam Taliaferro, a former Penn State football player who made an inspirational comeback from a paralyzing injury in 2000, was running as a Democrat for election as a freeholder. Taliaferro suffered a severe spinal cord injury while making a tackle for the Nittany Lions, and doctors feared he might never walk again. But he regained the ability to walk, graduated from Penn State and went on to earn a law degree from Rutgers-Camden.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Trenton contributed
to this report.
