Strange as it may seem, the 12 seats in New Jersey’s House delegation in Washington are split 6-6 between Democrats and Republicans. Sure, many of the Republicans would be considered Marxists in some deep red states ... but Scott Garrett (unbelievably) is one of a select handful of House members who consistently receives a perfect 100 rating from the American Conservative Union.
The NJ Republicans won the gerrymander for the Congressional redistricting as a result of the 2010 Census. Unfortunately, the NJ Democrat's map won for the legislature.
Lonegan's 44-55 loss (with 6277/6330 precincts) is actually better than almost every poll. Plus he was outspent 10-1. If the Republican Party had actually put some effort into this, who knows?
But for the 17th Amendment we would be able to take advantage of conservative strength outside of cities. Direct election of Senators handed the Senate to big cities. Now the whole country is run like Chicago.