Democrat Malinowski defeats 5-term Republican Rep. Lance

<p>Democrat Tom Malinowski has defeated five-term incumbent Republican Rep. Leonard Lance in New Jersey&rsquo;s 7th Congressional District.</p>

News 12 Staff

Nov 7, 2018, 4:59 AM

Updated 2,229 days ago

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Democrat Tom Malinowski has defeated five-term incumbent Republican Rep. Leonard Lance in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
Lance conceded to Malinowski just before 11:30 p.m.
Malinowski was a State Department official under former President Barack Obama, and served as the assistant secretary of state for human rights from 2014 until 2017.
The District 7 race was one of the most closely contested House races in the state. Democrat Hillary Clinton narrowly carried the district in 2016 over Republican President Donald Trump.
Lance highlighted how he was different from Trump, who is mostly unpopular in New Jersey, and focused on his membership in a bipartisan caucus.
But Malinowski says Lance failed to stop fellow Republicans from enacting proposals he and many New Jersey residents opposed, like the 2017 tax overhaul.
Results for the elections were expected to be delayed, after a Superior Court judge suspended the counting of mail-in ballots in Somerset County. County election officials sought a court order to delay the count after receiving 19,000 to 20,000 ballots.
The counting of those ballots were to resume Wednesday at 9 a.m.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.