NJ 21st District Results: Munoz, Matsikoudis Get Republican Nod

NORTH JERSEY — It appears that Assemblywoman Nancy Muñoz and Assembly candidate Michele Matsikoudis will both get the Republican nomination to face off against Assembly candidates Elizabeth Graner and Anjali Mehrotra for two Assembly seats in the 21st District in November.

Muñoz and Matsikoudis had faced a challenge for the Republican nomination from a third candidate, Jennifer A. Makar, who described herself in a profile as "a Faithful Christian Conservative Woman making my first run for office. I am not a product of the party system."

Without party support, she lagged behind her competition, still managing to pull 1,467 votes or 12.95 percent of the vote among the Union County electorate, and a total of 2,505 votes throughout the district, with most of the votes in as of late Tuesday night.

The 21st Legislative District includes Westfield, Summit, Cranford, Garwood, and several other towns in Union, Somerset, and Morris counties.

Muñoz and Matsikoudis earned 4,793 and 5,033 votes respectively in Union County, and a total of 7,875 and 8,058 throughout the district, according to preliminary Associated Press totals.

On the Democratic side, Graner and Mehrotra were unopposed in their bids to get the two Democratic nominations to run in November.

They received 6,809 and 6,633 votes respectively just within Union County, as of late Tuesday night.

While only some of the races were contested, political observers often look to the vote tallies as an early indicator of support before November.

The District also will include a race for the state Senate in November. The candidates for the nominations were unopposed.

The Democratic and Republican results for the state Senate nomination are:

21st Dist. State Senate

• John Bramnick (R): 5,559 in Union County (unofficial)
• Joseph Signorello III (D): 6,814 in Union County (unofficial)

For more details on the primary election, visit Vote.NJ.Gov.

To contribute candidate information, suggestions, and more, email: caren.lissner@patch.com.

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