New Jersey election 2026: These 4 Republicans hope to unseat U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

What questions do you have about the 2026 elections? What major issues do you want candidates to address? Let us know.

New Jersey voters will cast their ballots in the June 2 primary election, to determine the Democratic and Republican candidates who will face off in the November election this fall.

What does a U.S. senator do?

The U.S. Senate plays a crucial role in the American political system, with it and the House of Representatives serving as the legislative branch of government that passes and deliberates on federal laws. The branch controls taxes and budget spending, regulates interstate and foreign commerce, and can declare war.

Senators are elected to six-year terms. New Jersey’s other senator, Democrat Andy Kim, was elected in 2024 after former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez resigned following his federal conviction on bribery charges.

Cory Booker

Democrat Cory Booker grew up in North Jersey and graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan. He received his undergraduate and master’s degree from Stanford University where he played varsity football, volunteered for the campus peer counseling center, and wrote for the student newspaper. Booker was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and studied at  Oxford University before graduating from Yale Law School in 1997.

Booker then moved to Newark where he launched a nonprofit organization to provide legal services for low-income residents. In 1998, he was elected to the Newark City Council and then served as the city’s mayor from 2006 until 2013, when he won a special election for the Senate seat left vacant following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Booker was reelected the following year in the general election, and was also victorious in the 2020 general election, defeating Republican Rikin Mehta.

In the Senate, Booker serves on the Judiciary Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and the Small Business Committee. He has worked to protect health care and the environment, improve what he describes as the broken criminal justice system, and supported efforts to expand education and support for veterans.

Booker has frequently criticized the policies of the Trump administration, and last year, he made the longest speech in the history of the Senate, clocking in at 25 hours and five minutes. Earlier this year he took a strong stand against the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to house a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Roxbury Township. He has also protested the Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts and actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.

Booker mounted a campaign to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2019, but withdrew early in 2020, citing a lack of money needed to continue. He is considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and has introduced legislation to significantly expand the standard tax deduction for singles and married couples, which would effectively lower taxes on low- and middle-income wage earners.

Booker faces no primary opposition. The four candidates who previously announced their intention to run in the primary election against Booker — Chris Fields, a community organizer; Alex Hammerli, a podcaster and actor; community activist Lisa McCormick and Saxon Callahan, who did not have an online website — either withdrew or were disqualified because they did not collect the necessary 2,500 signatures from registered voters of their party.

The GOP challengers

Robert Lebovics

Dr. Robert Lebovics, an ear, nose and throat doctor, is one of four Republicans seeking the nomination of their party in the primary election. He describes himself as a conservative and political outsider who will “fight for New Jersey families and bring common sense back to Washington.”

On his campaign website, Lebovics vows to work for policies that reduce everyday costs, promote economic growth, and make it easier for families to live, work and build a future in the Garden State.

His top issues include making health care accessible and affordable, improving education while empowering parents, protecting Social Security, regulating artificial intelligence and protecting privacy. He said New Jersey deserves better than Booker, describing the incumbent in a written statement as “a senator who has done nothing meaningful and is more preoccupied with running for president than fighting for New Jersey.”

Justin Murphy

Justin Murphy is a former committeeman in Tabernacle, a small town in the Pine Barrens of Burlington County. He has dedicated his campaign to the men and women of the U.S. military, and said he is running in the primary because he cares about the nation’s culture, parental rights, health care system and economic opportunity.

Murphy, who described himself as self-employed, said his top priorities include private sector growth, tax cuts and spending reductions. He said he is committed to standing up to terrorism and crime. He supports securing the northern and southern borders of the nation, and he vowed to fight for energy independence.

He also pledged to work to ensure older residents have the best Medicare program available. He also said he will fight to protect the Jersey Shore, and keep it “windmill free.”

Murphy said China poses a serious threat to the U.S. and he supports engaging with the Chinese from a position of strength, politically and economically. He also opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana. He ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2024 and finished in third place.

Richard Tabor

Richard Tabor was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After joining the U.S. Army he served 10 years in the National Guard and was deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. He then became a New Jersey State Trooper.

His top priorities include cutting federal spending, opposing new taxes, fighting to lower the cost of health care, promoting domestic energy production, supporting law enforcement and small businesses.

He also supports stronger federal action against repeat violent criminal offenders, expanded school safety grants and local security improvements, stronger enforcement against drug trafficking near schools and community-based partnerships that prevent youth violence.

Tabor was suspended from his job as a State Trooper earlier this month. He blames New Jersey’s Democratic Party. Tabor is reportedly the subject of an internal State Police investigation.

Alex Zdan

Alex Zdan is a former political reporter for News 12 New Jersey. He attended The College of New Jersey and currently anchors special presentations for TV Asia. His front-burner campaign issues include bringing down the cost of prescription drugs, cleaning up environmental wastelands, conserving wilderness areas, fighting to strengthen nutritional standards, supporting small farmers and granting greater access to nutritious food for those on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.

Zdan, a frequent critic of former Gov. Phil Murphy, had sought the Republican nomination in the 2024 Senate primary election, which was won by Democrat Andy Kim, but was disqualified or withdrew from the contest.

According to the most recent statistics available, there are 6,254,212 registered voters in New Jersey. There are 2,382,611 registered Democrats, 1,577,940 registered Republicans and 2,293,661 independents and others. The primary election is June 2, and the general election is Nov. 3.

New Jersey voters can request a vote by mail ballot. The deadline to do so by mail is Tuesday, May 26 or 3 p.m. on June 1 to do so in person. Mail ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. June 2 in person, and postmarked by June 4 if sent by mail. Early voting will take place from May 26 until May 31.