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Gopal holds NJ state Senate seat in hard-fought election for Jersey Shore district
By
Nancy Solomon
Published Nov 7, 2023
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Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images
By
Nancy Solomon
Published Nov 7, 2023
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New Jersey state Sen. Vin Gopal has fended off a challenge from Republican Steve Dnistrian in one of New Jersey’s most-watched legislative races, according to the Associated Press.
With 99% of votes for Legislative District 11 counted by mid-day Wednesday, Gopal led the race 59.8% to 39.4% over Dnistrian, according to the Associated Press. Those results do not yet include provisional ballots or some mail-in ballots, which could be dropped off as late as 8 p.m. Tuesday.
In the district's Assembly race, Democrats Margie M. Donlon and Luanne M. Peterpaul also took wins over Republican incumbents Kim Eulner and Marilyn Piperno, according to the AP. The Democrats each had about 28% of the vote, and the two Republicans each had about 22%. Independent Karen Zaletel had less than 1% of the vote.
Gopal, 38, was first elected to the state Senate in 2017 and has been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He was the first South Asian American to be elected to the New Jersey State Senate.
He represents one of the few purple districts in New Jersey, an area that crisscrosses Monmouth County from the middle of the state to Asbury Park at the shore.
He held onto the seat in 2021, but saw his Democratic running mates lose their races for the Assembly to the Republican slate that year.
If the Republicans had successfully won the 11th District this year, they would have cemented their dominance over the Jersey Shore’s legislative seats.
Defeating Gopal was a top priority for Republicans in New Jersey, who aimed to capitalize on strong headwinds created by two issues in the state.
Dnistrian and his fellow Republicans criticized Gopal over what they called “parental control,” or “parents’ rights,” saying schools were leaving parents out of important decisions about their children’s education and school environment. This year has seen particularly pitched battles over policies, based on state guidance, that prevent schools from outing transgender students to their parents in most circumstances. Parents’ rights groups have also opposed updates to the school’s sex education standards they say are too explicit, and pandemic mandates involving masking in schools. Conservative parents formed organizations, ran school board candidates and protested across the state about the policies.
Dnistrian criticized Gopal as “missing in action” from the parents’ rights debate and noted Gopal co-sponsored a bill to update the sex education standards. But Gopal told the Bergen Record he opposed state lawsuits against districts with policies that could out trans students to their families, saying, “I don't think it's good policy for any state agency to be getting involved in school districts and what they're doing.”
Republicans also tied Gopal to Gov. Phil Murphy’s plans to convert the state away from fossil fuels and toward the use of clean energy. Although those policies once had broad bipartisan support, a Monmouth University Poll this summer found support had dropped off considerably since 2019, when 76% of respondents supported wind energy. Republican support dropped the most, from 69% to just 28% in that time.
The waning support came as the oil and gas industry funded a national campaign against renewable energy, and Republican legislators blamed an uptick in Atlantic Coast whale deaths on Gov. Phil Murphy’s plans for wind farm development — even though no wind turbines have yet been built, and the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration says there’s no credible link between wind farm development and whale deaths.
But Gopal recently told NJ Monitor that when his fellow Democrats tried to shift the conversation away from whales and to climate change, they missed the point.
“The Democrats failed to understand any of the concerns that voters had about cost, about tourism, about construction,” he said. He blamed his fellow Democrats for bad communication on the issue.
Dnistrian called for an offshore wind moratorium and attended anti-wind rallies, though Politico reported in September he’d previously worked for a company seeking to build wind power infrastructure.
Gopal chairs the Senate Education Committee and serves as Senate majority conference leader. He is also the vice chair of the Senate Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee, and a member of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
Dnistrian is the owner of a communications and consulting company. He also campaigned against high property taxes, high crime and difficulty businesses face in New Jersey.
This post has been updated to reflected more confirmed election results.
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Nancy Solomon
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