the ballots are counted the results are in and it was a good night for incumbents in the state's Tuesday primary election all 120 legislative seats were on the ballot with a handful of bitterly contested races on the Republican side as the GOP prepares for an uphill battle to take control of one or both houses of the legislature this fall senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has a look at the election outcomes just eight percent of New Jersey's registered voters cast ballots in this ho-hum primary election and predictably almost every incumbent won their race including Republican senator Ed Durer he's better known as Ed the trucker the guy who beat former Senate President Steve Sweeney and he handily defeated Challenger Beth Sawyer in legislative district 3 one of very few feisty contests brand is everything there's this major overall theme do I trust that person and he's the trucker oh I trust him Republican senator John bramnik says incumbents like Ed the trucker can rely on branding for the win Durr will face Democrat John berzacelli in November but parties support like the advantageous county line on a ballot also wielded significant political weight Essex County's redrawn 27th District put two long-serving veterans Senators dick Cody and Nia Gill against each other Gill lost bull both the county line and the race says Democratic party strategist Julie roginski the line seems to have held in all the big races the one in South Jersey certainly um the one up in Essex County it seems that County endorsed candidates and and most of the large counties uh prevailed but voters cast less than 530 000 ballots in an Eagleton Institute primary post-mortem the monitors Terry McDonald says voters simply didn't turn out there's probably a lot of reasons I think maybe the chief reason is that there are so few races that are contested almost everybody was running unopposed contested races that did generate voter turnout included District 26 where Republican senator Joe panaccio beat back a challenge for Morris County Commissioner Tom mastronello who tried to Brand the incumbent as a woke Republican Jersey Joe panaccio who chaired Donald Trump's Jersey campaign beat Master Angelo by about 20 points another case of branding notes writers Micah Rasmussen at the end of the day uh Master Angela was not able to make the case um to dump an entire legislative ticket a well-established legislative ticket um in in Jersey Joe panaceo One race did Buck Trends a bit vying for a wide open seat in District 4 Nick dasilvio won Republican party backing in Gloucester County which holds the Lion Share of the district's Republican voters but Challenger Christopher Del barello drew the first column on the ballot by sheer luck the globe's Joey Fox explains how that helped Del Morello win a voter who wasn't paying super close attention to the primary genuinely probably would not know which was actually the party endorsed sleep with candidates now set for fall campaigns Republicans will get another chance to make inroads in Trenton where Democrats control both Senate and assembly Rasmussen does predict a shift you're seeing the Republican minorities get larger as they get more of the South and more of the Northwest and more of the shore they're leaving Democrats with that blue strip uh of the quarter between Philadelphia and New York he expects pocketbook issues and culture wars like parental rights could drive the rhetoric ramnik says Republicans need to win swing districts where the Maga Playbook may not work so what we have to do is appeal to moderate Democrats and unaffiliated voters and we're not going to do that if we look mean-spirited I don't think it's helpful to them especially in a Suburban State like New Jersey with women especially Suburban women all 120 legislative seats will be on the ballot in November I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music] [Music]