Pallone vs. Onuoha: NJ 6th Congressional Election Results

CENTRAL JERSEY - The polls are closed and the votes are being tallied as citizens across New Jersey's 6th district are choosing between US.Rep. Frank Pallone and Republican challenger Christian Onuoha as their next congressman.

10:06 p.m.: According to the Associated Press, Onuoha is in the lead with 52.13 percent of the vote. Pallone has 47.87 percent of the vote. 50,548 cast their ballots for Pallone, while 55,048 back Onuoha so far.

Pallone, 68, has served as the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 6th congressional district since 1993. Previously, he served as the representative for the 3rd district from 1988 to 1993.

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Onuoha, 28, was the latest Republican challenger who tried to unseat the Democrat. He was born in Newark to Nigerian-American immigrants and works for a tech company that provides software to the pharmaceutical industry.

Pallone is an advocate for the Affordable Care Act and an updated coronavirus relief package. He also helped draft the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan to support American manufacturing. The act would see the rebuilding of roads, bridges, transit systems, schools and housing, as well as update hospitals, fund the U.S. postal service and “all while putting our country on a path toward zero carbon emissions, making communities and roads safer, and addressing long-standing disparities,” according to the White House fact sheet.

He is also a proponent of the Clean Futures Act, a New Green Deal alternative favored by some Democrats.

The district includes the following municipalities:

• Middlesex: Carteret, Edison Township, Highland Park, Metuchen, New Brunswick, Old Bridge Township (part), Perth Amboy, Piscataway Township, Sayreville, South Amboy, South Plainfield and Woodbridge Township.

• Monmouth: Aberdeen Township, Allenhurst, Asbury Park, Atlantic Highlands, Deal, Hazlet Township, Highlands, Interlaken, Keansburg, Keyport, Loch Arbour, Long Branch, Marlboro Township, Matawan, Middletown Township (part), Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Sea Bright, Union Beach and West Long Branch.

Since the change to this year's election was announced by Gov. Phil Murphy because of the coronavirus, there have been many questions about how the process will work.

Every the ballot sent through the mail had to be postmarked by Nov. 3. It must be received by your county's election boards by 8 p.m. on Nov. 10.

"Every vote should be safe. Every vote should be secure. Every vote should be counted," Murphy said of the process.

For full coverage of the 2020 election in New Jersey, go here: New Jersey Elections 2020