In what many predicted would be a tight primary race, Plainsboro resident and state senator Linda Greenstein lost her bid for the 12th Congressional district Democratic primary to assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman by a bigger margin than expected. Coleman received 15,413 votes according to the unofficial results posted by the state department of election. Greenstein received 10,031. Both were seeking to replace 12-term Congressman Rush Holt, who is retiring.
While Coleman carried Mercer County, Greenstein won in West Windsor, which was formerly part of her state legislative district. Greenstein received 659 votes, compared to 346 for Coleman and 346 for state assemblyman Upendra Chivukula.
As predicted, Greenstein carried Middlesex County, as well as her hometown of Plainsboro. Greenstein received 444 of 826 votes cast in Plainsboro. The second-highest vote total was 214 for Chivukula. The Middlesex County Democratic Organization had endorsed Greenstein, whereas the Mercer County Democratic Committee had endorsed Coleman.
This election, the 13th of Greenstein’s career, is the first election she has ever lost.
In 1992 she was elected the West Windsor-Plainsboro school board, and to the Plainsboro Township Committee in 1995. In 2000 Greenstein was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly. In 2010 she won her current senate seat in a special election to replace Bill Baroni, who accepted a position with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She was re-elected in 2013.
Following the primary loss, Greenstein told supporters, “I’m going to figure out what I’m going to do and continue to be your senator, hopefully. I will continue my life with or without congress, but I would have sure liked to go.”
Coleman will face Republican Alieta Eck, a physician from Franklin Township, in the general election this fall.
