Meet The Candidates

It is important for voters to be knowledgeable about the candidates. The New Jersey Student Mock Election is providing this partial guide to make it easier for teachers and students to find information about the candidates in their district.

• The League of Women Voters offers VOTE411. Enter your address for your school’s address tofind information about the candidates in your district. The League of Women Voters asked candidates to answer a series of questions, but not all candidates responded, something students may want to take into consideration as they evaluate the candidates.
• Ballotpedia offers a similar site. Again, enter your school’s address for candidate information andpossible web sites, however the links are often more available for incumbents. Some of the links are campaign sites, and students are cautioned that they are therefore partisan and they should exercise good media literacy skills. In addition, political campaigns often ask for donations. Students are NOT to donate to campaigns, but simply use the sites for research.
• A third possible option is the non-partisan, mostly volunteer site The Voter’s Self Defense System -Vote Smart

The New Jersey Center for Civic Education offers teachers the following presentation from their Media Literacy workshop to inform their classroom instruction. Media literacy has become essential for informed voting, and teachers are encouraged to reinforce these skills with their students.

A copy of the official list of candidates from the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections is provided below. The candidates for each district are listed in the order they appear on the official New Jersey ballot. A (*) indicates the candidate is an incumbent.

NJ Department of State, Division of Elections Official Candidate Lists

• 2024-official-general-candidates-president.pdf (nj.gov)
• 2024-official-general-candidates-us-senate.pdf (nj.gov)
• 2024-official-general-candidates-us-house.pdf (nj.gov)

The below sites are only for information about the candidates and their platforms (if available). Please do not click on the “donate” links in the below sites.

Party Organizations (available sites):

• Democratic National Committee
• Democratic National 2024 Platform
• Republican National Committee
• Republican National 2024 Platform
• New Jersey Democratic Party (NJDems)
• New Jersey Republican Party (NJGOP)
• Libertarian Party
• New Jersey Libertarian Party
• New Jersey Green Party

President/Vice-President (Platform statements if available):

• KAMALA HARRIS/TIM WALZ – DEMOCRATIC PARTY
• DONALD TRUMP/J.D. VANCE – REPUBLICAN PARTY
• JILL STEIN/RUDOLPH WARE – GREEN PARTY
• CHASE OLIVER/MIKE TER MAAT-LIBERTARIAN PARTY
• CLAUDIA DE LA CRUZ/KARINA GARCIA-SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION

United States Senate:

• ANDY KIM-DEMOCRATIC PARTY
  • Ballotpedia Page
  • Campaign Site – Issues

• CURTIS BASHAW-REPUBLICAN PARTY
  • Ballotpedia Page
  • Campaign Site – Issues

• CHRISTINA KHALIL-GREEN PARTY
  • Ballotpedia Page
  • Campaign Site – Issues

• KENNETH KAPLAN-LIBERTARIAN PARTY
  • Ballotpedia Page
  • Campaign Site – Issues

• JOANNE KUNIANSKY-SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY
  • Ballotpedia Page
  • No Campaign Site

• PATRICIA MOONEYHAM-VOTE BETTER PARTY
  • Ballotpedia Page
  • Campaign Site – Issues

United States House of Representatives:

Below are some suggested links to investigate the candidates for the 12 congressional seats in the House of Representatives. To find out which district your school belongs to, go to House.gov and use the “Find Your Representative” tool in the upper right corner.

• NJ Spotlight: NJ Decides 2024 Congressional Voters Guide
• League of Women Voters VOTE411
• United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey, 2024 – Ballotpedia
• United States Senate election in New Jersey, 2024 – Ballotpedia
• Federal Election Commission: NJ Congressional Campaign Finance Data

Find Your Districts

Find Your Legislative District By Municipality
New Jersey Legislature – Districts by Number (state.nj.us)

Find Your Congressional District
Find Your Representative (house.gov)