Democrats maintain control of Assembly

Despite losing the governor's office, Democrats staved off Republican challenges in several battleground districts yesterday, maintaining almost a decade of dominance in the state Assembly.

With 91 percent of districts counted by 10:40 last night, it seemed to be a safe election for incumbents, but some races were too close to call.

Republican State Committee Chairman Jay Webber said the party was holding out hope in some tight races, but he focused on Chris Christie's gubernatorial win over Gov. Jon Corzine.

"The Legislature is going to have a friend in the governor's office, and that's the most important thing," he said.

Derek Roseman, spokesman for the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, wasn't sure if Democrats would retain every seat.

"We knew from the get-go that these were going to be some tight races," he said. Roseman said Democrat William Collins was in a close race to succeed Assemblywoman Sandra Love (D-Gloucester) in the 4th District.

The Assembly went into the election with 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans. The Democrat-controlled state Senate is not up for election until 2011.

Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin said Democrats were able to prevent deeper losses by making the governor's race a close contest.

"It takes a big win to have real electoral change in the Legislature," he said. In close elections, he added, "we should not expect a real coattail effect."

Some of the hot races were:

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