Democrats Easily Win Legislative Races in District 29

District 29 looked blue to the core on Tuesday.

According to Democrats running routed their Republican competition in Belleville and Newark legislative races.

Incumbent Democrat State Senator M. Teresa Ruiz easily won reelection, garnering almost five times the votes of Republican challenger Raafat Barsoom of Belleville at 15,562 votes to 3,430. 

Newark native Ruiz has been in the Senate since 2008 and has represented Belleville since District 29 was redistricted in Belleville in 2011.

Barsoom, a doctor at HackensackUMC Mountainside Hospital and a board member for the North Jersey Developmental Center, received 17.36 percent of the vote while Ruiz received 78.77 percent.

Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D) of Newark and fellow Assembly Democrat Eliana Pintor Marin also easily bested their Republican competition, with Spencer pulling in 14,795 votes and Marin 14,248. Those numbers easily bested Republican Aracelis Sanabria Tejada’s 3,724 votes and Elaine Guarino’s 3,673.

Newark residents Tejada and Guarino also ran unsuccessfully as Republicans in 2011.

Marin is a new face for the district, having replaced Essex Assemblyman Coutinho, who resigned from office in September while under criminal investigation for dipping into his family’s nonprofit foundation for his private use. He is serving three years probation after pleading guilty to theft and falsifying records. 

Marin, a Newark Schools Advisory Board member, served out the remaining weeks of Coutinho’s term and ran for reelection in his place.