NJ governor election set for Tuesday: Here's who's running and where to vote

Voters in New Jersey will head to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots in the hotly-watched race for governor. Nearly a dozen candidates will compete in New Jersey on Tuesday for the chance to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

With New Jersey one of only two states holding gubernatorial elections this year (along with Virginia), many political experts will be watching the race in the Garden State as a bellwether for national politics ahead of the midterms next year.

 Historically, presidential politics has cast a long shadow over the two contests, with the president’s party frequently losing one or both seats. Although Democrats have long dominated New Jersey’s federal offices as well as the state Legislature, the governor’s office has changed hands regularly between the two major political parties for most of the last century. The last time a party held the governorship for more than two consecutive terms was in 1961.

Who is running for NJ governor in 2025?

Democratic candidates for NJ governor

The race for the Democratic nomination for governor features a crowded field of prominent current and former officeholders: U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, New Jersey Education Association president and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney.

Gottheimer has had a slight edge in fundraising, with about $9.1 million in contributions, followed by Sherrill and Fulop, each with about $8.9 million raised for their campaigns.

Immigration has been a major issue in the campaign. In May, the state’s top federal prosecutor dropped a trespassing case against Baraka, who was arrested earlier in the month at a protest outside a new federal immigration detention center.

Republican candidates for NJ governor

In the Republican primary, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli makes his third attempt for the state’s highest office. He had a strong showing as the 2021 Republican nominee against Murphy, coming within about 3 percentage points of unseating the Democratic incumbent. He also ran in 2017 but lost the nomination to then-Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

Also seeking the Republican nomination Tuesday are state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, talk radio host Bill Spadea and general contractor Justin Barbera.

President Donald Trump has been a key figure in the primary, as he has been in other GOP contests across the country in recent years. He endorsed Ciattarelli in May and campaigned for him in a virtual rally on Monday, despite the candidate having said in 2015 that he was not fit to serve as president. Bramnick is the only current Trump critic in this year's GOP primary field.

The state’s most populous counties — Bergen, Middlesex, Essex and Hudson — tend to play a larger role in Democratic primaries than in Republican primaries. For example, Essex County, which is home to heavily Democratic Newark, had the largest turnout in the last competitive Democratic primary for governor in 2017, but it did not crack the top 15 counties in the last competitive Republican primary in 2021. That year, Ciattarelli received just shy of a majority of the Republican primary vote. He was the top vote-getter in all 21 counties and nearly doubled the vote count of his nearest competitor. The counties that contributed the most Republican primary votes that year were Ocean, Morris and Monmouth.

When is primary day in New Jersey?

The New Jersey primary election will take place on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.

What hours is the primary election?

Voting in the New Jersey primary election will run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

What if you are on line when the poll closes, can you still vote?

If a voter is in line when a poll closes, you are allowed to vote as long as you remain on line.

Who can vote in the election?

Registered party members may vote only in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may participate in either primary, but voting in a party's primary will enroll them in that party.

How do I find my polling place in New Jersey?

Voters' polling place is determined by the counties and you can search for your polling place in this New Jersey Division of Elections tool on their website.

Can I track my mail-in ballot?

The New Jersey Division of Elections has a Voter Information Portal where you can track your ballot.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 presidential election in New Jersey, the first results the AP reported came from Hudson County at 8:01 p.m. ET, one minute after polls closed. Vote tabulation ended for the night at 4:21 a.m. ET in Burlington County with about 95% of votes counted.

Viewers can track results here in the NBC New York website and app on our election results page.