>> Major funding for "NJ Spotlight news" is provided in part by NJM insurance group, serving the insurance needs of businesses and residents for more than 100 years.

And by the PSEG foundation.

Anchor: Tonight, and election of historic proportions.

Red wave sweeps the country, propelling Donald Trump to a second term as president.

>> We overcame obstacles nobody thought possible and it is now clear that we have achieved the most incredible political -- look what happened, is this crazy?

Anchor: Plus that same red wave showed up on the shores of New Jersey.

>> Trump made his gains in New Jersey.

This is the reddest we have seen New Jersey in decades.

Anchor: Also the changing face of the women from New Jersey now headed to Congress.

>> I can't wait to not be such a lonely member of the women's group in the New Jersey delegation.

Anchor: And will all those summer transit troubles go away as the agency introduces its new advocate?

"NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Anchor: Good evening and thank you for joining us on this Wednesday night.

We begin with our top headlines.

First, New Jersey stayed blue but Donald Trump pulled off a stunning victory last night and will return to the White House as the nation's 47th president, making major gains in traditionally Democratic strongholds in the state.

Losing the popular vote in New Jersey by just five points, the tightest margin for a Republican presidential candidate since the Bill Clinton race in 1992.

Trump making other history as well as the first convicted felon to go to the White House, the first to survive two assassination attempts, and holding the first nonconsecutive term since Grover Cleveland.

Democrats in New Jersey held onto their long-standing winning streak for the U.S. Senate.

Representative Andy Kim defeated his Republican challenger by roughly eight points to take the seat formerly held by Bob Menendez.

Kim called it a new era of politics, having ousted the first lady during the primary and taken down the state primary system.

Although even his race was tighter than polls and pundits predicted.

>> We showed New Jersey there is a better way to do this.

[APPLAUSE] [crowd chanting] But it isn't just about New Jersey, we show the country there is a better way to do this.

It can mean politics that lifts people up and gives people hope, that delivers for everyone.

It can mean a politics that changes the trajectory of our nation and builds a brighter future.

Anchor: In district seven, the Republican held onto his seat in a marquee race being watched across the country as Democrats try to shift control of the power in the house.

He led his Democratic challenger by about six points in that purple district.

Political analysts say in the end, all of the fighting over now President-elect Trump and messaging during the campaign ended up helping Kane secure reelection.

Also tonight, new promises for New Jersey transit riders.

Today there was a virtual meeting with reporters, there was a promise to get to know commuters and the frustrations they face.

There was also about to begin a full review of the agency's services said it is too early to recommend fixes.

He's planning to launch a new website so commuters can send feedback to him directly and an exit count on social media before the end of the year to communicate with riders.

The advocate is French born and educated and was hired in October after the position sat vacant four years.

He said he rides daily and encourages passengers to transmit their thoughts or he can report back to the agency.

Knowing transit riders, they will have no problem doing that.

A tragic death in Hoboken, for term city Council President died suddenly at 52 years old, leaving her family and the community in disbelief.

She was first elected in 2011 on the Zen mayors ticket and has been reelected ever since aside from a three-year break when she attempted a bid for the mayor seat in 2017.

According to the Hudson County view, she had a stellar record for responding to constituents, was well-liked, and ran impressive grassroots campaigns.

In a statement, her husband said she was not only an incredible mother but dedicated public servant who cared deeply about this community.

Praise and condolences have poured in from Governor Murphy, the Hudson County executive and many other local, state and federal leaders.

Democrats are taking stock of last night's election results.

Vice President Harris underperformed not only in New Jersey but in key voting areas through the country.

Governor Murphy today weighed in on races up and down the ballot, calling it a sobering moment, reflecting on the wider margins in the 2020 race, reminding the public he's been down this road before, spending the first three years of his administration working with the Trump White House, and vowed to do the same now.

>> As we look toward the future, our administration is committed to working with President Trump wherever we can to advance New Jersey's interests just as we did through his first term.

Our commitment is not to any person or party but the people of New Jersey and the rule of law.

It is precisely for that reason as we respect the peaceful transition of power that if there is any attack on the Garden State or its communities in Washington I will fight back with every fiber of my being.

Just as it is my response ability to stand up to any threat to our state or people, it is also our responsibility to take any opportunity that presents itself to work with the president, to protect and uplift the people of our state because that is what Responsible leaders do.

In many respects, we began our administration on this same note, with President Trump having been sworn in the year before.

We governed alongside the Trump administration for our first three years.

While my administration stood up fiercely during President Trump's first term on things like defending a woman's right to choose, advancing common sense gun safety policies, protecting our immigrant communities, we will continue to do so on all of these fronts and many more.

But we also showed our ability to work with him and his team to advance policies and initiatives that make life better for New Jerseyans.

In June of 2020 by example I sat across the table from President Trump in Bedminster and urged him to authorize the portal Northbridge project, one of the most critical infrastructure initiatives in the nation.

The president heard my argument and green lit the project literally that night and that project is well underway.

It is on track, under budget, on-time, and will be completed next year and will be a game changer.

Likewise during the dark days of the pandemic, I and our team worked closely with the Trump Administration to ensure New Jersey had access to every federal resource we needed to save lives.

As I've said many times before, I will never forget their help especially in that period of March, April, May and June of 2020.

We've been down this road before.

While we put New Jersey and shared values first, we have emerged stronger.

Anchor: Our senior political correspondent was with Governor Murphy today as he weighed in on what is to come for the party and is with me now.

The governor striking a collegial tone and somewhat optimistic.

What was the mood in the room?

David: The governor is generally an up beat guy.

He seemed very down today.

He will be traveling so he may have been dressed for travel but he was in like sweatpants and a parka and he just seemed really kind of defeated.

But he tried to put a good spin on it and to say jersey did OK as far as winning, but he also noted it was 15 point last time and about five, may be down to four at the top of the ticket this time and he said he wasn't sure whether it was the message or how it was being transmitted but it was time for the party to take a look at itself.

Anchor: I know you had a chance to talk to him and I feel like we've had the same conversation with him after the 2021 reelection where he narrowly won against the Republican good everyone thought it would be a much bigger margin.

Is the Democratic Party going to have a reckoning moment or not?

David: He called that election the canary in the coal mine and suggested Democrats should have gotten a message from that could I don't think there's any evidence Democrats did get a message from that and he mentioned, some of the asked about what impact this might have for the governor's race, and rather than repeat the old yarn about if there is a Republican in office it is good for Democrats, he said we should be worried that certain counties, the pluralities were much smaller than expected or wanted, and even statewide, the top in single digits.

Democrats should take heed of that and adjust.

Anchor: If that is the case, what are his concerns now post inauguration in January?

David: He says they need to go back to pocketbook issues, which I think they tried to do.

Being a political guy who has been through this a while, I think he knows there are tough times ahead for New Jersey Democrats.

Even looking forward to legislative races that if they don't make a course correction, you could have -- when was it, when Chris Christie swept in a lot of Republicans.

Anchor: With the changes in the congressional delegation, that opened seats in the legislature so we have that cycle to look to.

David, thank you.

In particular the Harris campaign failed to get enough votes from three core Democratic voting blocs, black men, who have been oil voters for the party, and crucial to Joe Biden's victory in 2020, Hispanic and Latino voters who broke for Trump in much larger numbers this year, and young voters.

All of these trends were evident throughout New Jersey last night where President Trump made historic gains in counties that haven't shifted this drastically in decades.

Joanna Gagis is a following those numbers and joins us to break it down.

What can you tell us?

Joanna: We know Trump made historic gains in New Jersey.

If you look at the map, this is the reddest we've seen New Jersey in decades.

Harrah's did win in New Jersey, 51.2% to Trump's 46.9% at that's less than a 5% margin and I think it left a lot of people stunned last night to see how deep the Trump efforts went in New Jersey, estate reliably blue.

We are going to break it down and do a side-by-side comparison but for we do, I want to highlight a couple of counties.

2020 versus 2024, I want to come over here were you see a more blue New Jersey and bring to you a couple of counties, Morris in particular and Gloucester in the south.

Both of these counties went to Joe Biden in 2020, both of those went red in 2020 four.

Not that surprising in this election but perhaps more surprising, four counties in New Jersey that went for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Biden in 2020 and for the first time in decades this year went red.

That's Passaic, Somerset, Atlantic and Cumberland counties.

If you look at the placement, this is north to south New Jersey but these regions, these counties cover a range of diversity, we have urban centers in Atlantic and Passaic, we have more ocean and rural in Cumberland and Atlantic.

Suburbia in Somerset County.

There's not one region Trump was able to turn to him.

We will get into the demographics in Passaic and a moment but I want to point out that in every county you see that is read that was also read in 2020, Trump outpaced his own results.

He had higher turnout, higher numbers and every red County.

Conversely, every blue region you see, Biden was able to secure higher percentages than Harris last night.

Big performance for the Republican, poor performance for the Democrat, no two ways around it.

That even goes for Essex, one of the biggest Democratic strongholds in the state.

As you said, Latino men played a big role.

In Passaic County, there is a close race we saw playing out last night.

It came down to a 4% margin and we think that is because of those young Latino males Trump was able to get to his side.

Anchor: It is striking to see the maps side-by-side.

Thank you for that.

For more on the big takeaways and what to expect next now that the election is over, I will turn to two of our go to analysts, Mike from New Jersey politics, and Ashley from the Eagleton Center for public interest pulling.

Micah, Ashley, good to see you, thank you for coming back.

A long night, some races still not decided.

Let's talk about the gains made in New Jersey by Republicans.

Micah, what was most surprising to you?

Micah: At this moment it looks like two counties that went for Joe Biden in 2020 have flipped to Trump in 2024 into that is Somerset County and Morris County.

Somerset is a little more of a surprise.

Four points, it will not necessarily bounce back and forth.

Maybe the biggest surprise is Passaic County becoming Republican and going for Trump as well.

It's really a wild situation that you are talking about in a blue state like New Jersey, these three counties behaving atypically raised on past election results.

Anchor: Let me stay with you a minute, you said last night the Democrats would have a real reckoning -- are they?

What is the talk today?

Micah: If they don't deal with it now they may deal with it after the governor's race.

It's definitely in their interest to figure out what is going on and why in this cycle they had the closest presidential race and decades and now also the closest governing race in New Jersey and decades this is a really tight cycle for them.

They had a 20, 25 year majority in New Jersey and they need to figure it out before they wind up on the losing end of these.

Anchor: Is New Jersey shifting, this is the Republicans closest presidential margin here in almost 35, 40 years.

Ashley: It brings into Western what path republicanism will take for the gubernatorial given that the Republican nation -- republicanism in the state is generally more moderate.

Will Republicans embrace Trump?

Will this be a bellwether for the country where maybe there is an ideological mood shift and voters wingback left.

I think it's too early to tell but it leaves a lot of questions for the year ahead.

Anchor: District seven, Tom Kane did pull out the win, and on the issues they appear to neck and n eck.

What were the indicators in terms of perhaps the president helping Kane, was it the top of the ticket?

Ashley: We certainly saw areas like Somerset County flipped to Trump this time around.

Trump may have helped him.

It's interesting it was as close a race as it became given Altman was an outsider to her party and didn't receive funding until late.

At the same time Kane had a like a visibly -- visibility from the media.

Democrats entered the national race late, but a lot of money spent in the district.

This has national consequences for the house.

This was something that could potentially have been turned back but we know with the seventh it has often changed hands the past few election cycles.

This is not necessarily surprising but maybe surprising how close it was.

Anchor: How does this set the stage for next year for the gubernatorial election?

We were talking in the newsroom this morning that New Jersey has tended to go the opposite of whatever party holds power in the White House.

But it seems like that might not be the case.

What do you think?

Micah: There's a lot to unpack because there could be an early midterm push for the party in power.

If the honeymoon period has ended, if campaign promises haven't been met and people are cranky at the White House, his party can pay the penalty for that.

On the other hand, we want to be careful not to extrapolate too much because there's a difference between voters who vote in presidential election and those who vote in all elections.

We don't know which voters Republicans can hold onto.

Anchor: Ashley, final thoughts?

Ashley: Again, it will come down to the economy.

We saw with should really and Murphy, it will be a prominent issue in 2025 and Democrats have to realize that's top of voter minds across the country.

Anchor: Good to talk to you both, thank you.

This election also means change for New Jersey's congressional delegation.

Along with Andy headed to the U.S. Senate, New Jersey ascending three new representatives to the house and more women than ever before in state history, including the first Latina from New Jersey.

How will it shape the delegations ability to affect change in a highly polarized White House?

Brenda Flanagan takes a look.

>> I can't wait to not be such a lonely member of the women's group in the New Jersey delegation.

[LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] I need some friends.

Reporter: The congresswoman lamented it is lonely at the top for women in politics and Harris's bruising loss thwarted hopes America would elect a woman to the highest office.

But New Jersey seemingly bucked the trend, adding two more women to its congressional delegation.

McIver in the 10th district, and Poe in the ninth.

They joy -- they join to others who are Democrats.

>> We have four and we've never had that many women serving at one time in our congressional delegation.

It's an impressive delegation going to Washington to represent New Jersey.

Reporter: Debbie Walsh hits the Center for American women and politics and dissected election results today on a Rikers panel where analysts noted eating women elected is hard.

>> It takes work, nurturing and something we have to look at up and down the ballot.

>> It helps all of us when we have people with diverse life experiences at the decision-making tables.

Reporter: McIver won a special election to finish the late Donald Payne Junior's term.

This victory by more than 50 points confirms she will continue to serve.

>> What I represent and the change and the history, even being the second African-American woman to represent New Jersey, it is surreal to me.

I'm still processing it even though I've been in Congress.

Reporter: Meanwhile, Nelly Rose after Bill class Kelce -- Bill Pascrell's death.

Her week win in a democratic stronghold signals a shift, Harris won New Jersey by a scant four points and Trump looks on track to win Passaic County, sending a red wave through local results.

>> When Democrats do well, women do well.

Passaic County going for Trump, Hudson County?

There is a shift.

What we saw in New Jersey reflects, is reflective of something we are seeing nationally.

Reporter: Democrats hoped Sue Altman would add a fifth woman to New Jersey's delegation.

She ran a vigorous grassroots campaign but lost by a crushing 27,000 votes to the incumbent Republican Tom Kane Junior in a district that leans red.

>> Remounted an incredible challenge in this race, one she -- one we should be deeply proud of.

Reporter: Planned Parenthood of New Jersey has stated, in the coming months we know politicians in other states, the White House, and Congress will continue to push reproductive health care out of reach, and called on state lawmakers to pass a reproductive freedom package.

New Jersey's four congresswomen in 2025 will have an agenda, Cheryl says.

>> To fight for things like women's health care, reproductive rights, to get a lot of focus on the child tax credit.

A lot of things I fight hard for in Congress but to bring the focus of our delegation onto these issues would be wonderful.

Reporter: While Republicans have retaken the Senate, New Jersey's delegation doesn't yet know which party will control the house next year.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Anchor: That will do it for us tonight but before you go, a reminder to download the "NJ Spotlight News" podcast so you can listen anytime.

For the entire team at "NJ Spotlight News," thank you for being with us, have a great night and we will see you back here tomorrow.

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♪