Early in-person Republican voters in deep blue New Jersey are slightly outpacing their Democratic neighbors, data shows.
Early in-person voting kicked off in the Garden State on Saturday, with 247,003 residents casting their votes over the weekend alone, NJ.com reported. Republican early in-person voters have taken the lead in the state, with 144,105 GOP votes cast compared to Democrats' 139,524 votes, state data analyzed by an Associated Press elections researcher found as of Tuesday.
"What we're seeing is phenomenal. Republicans are finally embracing the opportunity to vote early. The return rate on vote by mail ballots has been fantastic. Local Republican organizations are doing a great job in getting the word out," New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli said Wednesday on "Fox & Friends First" in reaction to the data.
Democrats in the deep blue state still have the edge over Republicans for vote-by-mail ballots at 383,062 compared to 130,362, the New Jersey Globe reported. All in, New Jersey has 6,562,735 registered voters this cycle, state data shows.
Of those registered, 2,497,951 are registered Democrats, 1,564,964 are Republicans, and 2,420,522 are unaffiliated, state data show.
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The blue state last voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 1988, when Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush defeated Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. The state had voted for Republican candidates from 1968 until 1992, when the state kicked off its ongoing blue voting trends.
Former President Trump has made early voting a hallmark of his campaign, bucking the Republican tradition of voting in-person on Election Day. He spoke to voters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, when he again urged voters to head to the polls early.
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"I don't like to speak too early, but you have to get out and vote because we… we want a big, beautiful number. We're leading in every single swing state. Because, normally Republicans, they like to vote at the end no matter what you say, they like to vote at the end," Trump said from the Allentown rally.
Elections experts have pointed to Trump's remarks encouraging early voting as a likely catalyst for the state's record number of votes a week ahead of Election Day.
"First, former President Trump has told his supporters to vote early. So, I think, when all the numbers are considered, we will see a shift among Republicans from voting on Election Day to voting early in person," Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, told NJ.com about the flood of early votes this cycle.
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"This is not a race in which a lot of people can't decide between Harris and Trump. They've decided and once the doors were opened to early voting, they are going to drive on in," he added.
Trump has campaigned in the Garden State, including holding a massive rally on South Jersey's Wildwood beach in May.
"We're going to win New Jersey," Trump told the crowd, which Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew described as "the biggest political rally in the history of New Jersey."
Ciattarelli continued in his comments to "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday that the Republican Party "can win" the presidential race and down the ballot.
"New Jersey is not a deep blue state. We can win here and I do think Donald Trump's going to do that as well as our U.S. Senate candidate, our congressional candidates, and many of our local candidates," he said.
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