Today's the day

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Polls are open until 8 p.m. Go vote if you haven’t already!

NJ-07: New Jersey’s top Democrats were in Springfield last night to boost Rebecca Bennett’s bid to oust Rep. Tom Kean Jr. Sen. Andy Kim told supporters packed into the Raymond Chisholm Community Center that he agreed with Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat who described himself as “nauseously optimistic” as Election Day approached. “We’re hopeful. We’re hopeful, but it’s nerve-wracking, right? Because we know that so much is at stake. So much is at stake,” Kim said.

NJ-02: Gov. Mikie Sherrill was in Springfield last night after appearing way down in Vineland earlier Monday to tout Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock, who is vying for the 2nd District House seat against incumbent GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew. “From everything I’ve seen, the momentum is growing,” Sherrill said. “We are seeing better and better numbers each day, and I think part of it is because we have such fantastic candidates.”

Russia: In non-election news, Sherrill on Monday sent a letter to New Jersey’s port and terminal operators telling them not to accept any fuel headed their way from Russia. President Donald Trump announced last month that he was buying the diesel in a bid to lower skyrocketing fuel prices here. Sherrill’s letter calls that move illegal and says port and terminal operators are opening themselves up to “harsh penalties” if they accept any of the diesel from Moscow. “The Russian Oil Act does not grant the President or Treasury Department blanket authority to waive these sanctions through licenses. Rather it provides a single avenue by which its prohibitions may be lifted short of repeal: the President must certify that, among other things, Russia has agreed to withdraw its forces from Ukraine,” she wrote. “Of course, no such certification has been made—or could be made—thus far.”

Criminal justice: A new lawsuit alleges that Mercer County officials and a Superior Court judge twice put a 16-year-old boy in a men’s prison, visits that subjected him to pepper spray and strip searching. “New Jersey has had for many years a law in the books that says you can’t house children in adult jails, and that’s for darn good reason,” said one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, Alexander Shalom. “Notwithstanding that, they held a 16-year-old in an adult jail, which is just so anathema to our code of youth justice, which is supposed to be for the betterment of the child and for their rehabilitation.

D.C.: Trump made an election eve appearance at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to, among other things, trash Democrats and urge voters to prevent them from gaining power. He also repeated his plan to give every American $5,000 if the GOP retains control of Congress. “The Democrats want to blow all of this up by electing communist jihadists, and the United States Congress will not allow that to happen. Got some big races tomorrow. I guess some of the voting has already gone on, but tomorrow is Election Day, more traditional, and we can’t let that happen,” he said.