Three South Jersey congressmen win reelection

Reps. Donald Norcross, Jeff Van Drew, and Chris Smith were easily reelected, the Associated Press projects. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)

A trio of South Jersey congressmen representing safe congressional districts won reelection Tuesday, the Associated Press projects.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-04), the longest-serving member of Congress in New Jersey's history, was elected to a 23rd term, prevailing over a challenge from business owner Matthew Jenkins for the second consecutive cycle in this solidly Republican district.

Smith's victory extends his record. The congressman has sat in the House since 1981, surviving five rounds of redistricting. The most recent map forced him to move from Hamilton to Manchester after the Mercer County town was redrawn into the 3rd District.

Voters in the 1st District reelected Rep. Donald Norcross (D) over Republican Teddy Liddell, an attorney and former U.S. Army captain, in the safely Democratic district.

Norcross's term in the 119th Congress will be his seventh, but it will be only his sixth full term. He was first elected to the House in a 2014 special election to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Rob Andrews. His first term was only months long.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-02) is projected to win a fourth term, defeating Joe Salerno, a businessman mounting his first campaign, in the increasingly Republican district.

The victory is Van Drew's third as a Republican. He was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 2018 after serving 16 years as a right-of-center Democrat in the state Legislature before defecting to the Republican Party as Democrats moved to impeach then-President Donald Trump in 2019.