Sen. Ted Cruz ’92 (R-Texas) won his re-election campaign for a third term as a senator representing Texas, defeating Colin Allred (D-Texas) in a closely followed race. David McCormick GS ’96 is running for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania, though his race is too close to call against incumbent Bob Casey (D-Pa.), as of early Wednesday morning.
Seven Princeton alumni also ran for congressional seats in the House of Representatives this election season. Five alumni are projected to win their race, one is projected to lose, and one race has yet to be called.
Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi ’95 (D-Ill.), Glenn Ivey ’83 (D-Md.), Terri Sewell ’86 (D-Ala.), and Vince Fong GS ’03 (R-Calif.) all secured re-election in their respective districts. Joseph Salerno ’84, who hoped to dethrone incumbent Republican Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey’s 2nd district, lost his race.
“I was a bit surprised that Texas was called as early as it was, because polls had to show that it would be a competitive election,” Santhosh Nadarajah ’25, Vice President of the College Republicans, told The Daily Princetonian in reference to the Texas Senate race.
Before ascending to his senate seat, Cruz was a debate champion for the American Whig-Cliosophic Society's (Whig-Clio) Debate Panel and a member of Colonial Club. He graduated from what was then the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA). He has held his seat in Texas since 2012 and ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, losing to prior President Donald Trump.
In recent years, Princetonians have grappled with Cruz’s association with the University. In 2021, Whig-Clio’s undergraduate members attempted to rescind an award the senator was extended in 2016 following the events of Jan. 6, but was prevented from doing so by the group’s Board of Trustees.
William Neumann ’27, the president of College Republicans, agreed with Nadarajah’s evaluation of the race.
“As of now, it’s showing a really strong race for Republicans — I think that they’ll win the Senate for sure,” he said. By early Wednesday morning, Republicans had indeed secured the Senate — by how much was not yet known.
Incumbent Krishnamoorthi won Illinois’ 8th district by a 12-point margin, defeating businessman Mark Rice. At Princeton, he majored in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), was a member of Tower Club, and graduated summa cum laude before earning his law degree at Harvard Law School. Having served four terms in Congress, Krishnamoorthi became the first South Asian American to lead a congressional committee.
Ivey, an incumbent congressman in Maryland, won in a landslide, garnering over 88 percent of the vote in that state’s fourth district. A politics major, Ivey received his law degree from Harvard Law School following graduation. Before running for Congress, Ivey served as state’s attorney for Prince George’s County from 2002 to 2011.
Another alum landslide victory occurred in Alabama’s seventh district, where Sewell won by approximately a 30-point margin. Sewell, who majored in SPIA at Princeton, served as the vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and was a member of Cap and Gown Club. In 2010, Sewell became the first African American woman elected to Congress from Alabama.
Fong, an incumbent, won by over 30 points in California’s 20th district, defeating Republican Mike Boudreaux who halted his campaign for the seat over the summer. Before earning an M.P.A. from Princeton, Fong earned a B.A. in political science and government from UCLA. He gained incumbency in 2024 after winning a special election to replace former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
Back home in New Jersey, Herb Conway ’85 achieved a 10-point victory over Republican Rajesh Mohan, filling Senator-elect Andy Kim’s open seat in New Jersey’s 3rd district. After graduating from Princeton with an A.B. in Politics, Conway received an M.D. at Thomas Jefferson University and was later awarded a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law.
Across the Garden State, Salerno challenged his South Jersey district’s incumbent to suffer a 58–41 loss. During his time at Princeton, Salerno was an MAE major and was a member of Cottage Club. He was also a member of the now-abolished sprint football team. Following graduation, Salerno obtained his law degree from Rutgers University and later became an entrepreneur.
All newly elected members of Congress will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025. Four of the eight Princeton alumni who are currently serving decided not to run for reelection.
As of publication, the race of Rep. George Whitesides ’96 (D-Calif.) has not yet been called in a dead heat race. None of the candidates responded to request for comment by the time of publication.
This piece is breaking and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Sena Chang is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Charlie Roth is a senior News editor and assistant Data editor for the ‘Prince.’
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Isaac Barsoum“In the future, the history books — if there are any — will either remember a failure of American institutions to defend our democracy, or they will paint a picture of our universities, press corps, and public servants as the last line of defense against a petty tyrant who tried — and failed — to wrest from us our most fundamental freedoms.”
“In the future, the history books — if there are any — will either remember a failure of American institutions to defend our democracy, or they will paint a picture of our universities, press corps, and public servants as the last line of defense against a petty tyrant who tried — and failed — to wrest from us our most fundamental freedoms.”
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