Polls closed at 8 p.m.
Turnout for the primary was expected to be low because the state held its presidential primary in February. That race was won by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican John McCain.
In other primary races across the state, republicans were deciding two contentious nomination races for open house seats and Atlantic City voters were choosing a democratic mayoral candidate.
Andrews, a 50-year-old lawmaker who has served in the house since 1990, recalled in one television ad how Lautenberg himself raised the age issue when campaigning in 1982 against rep. Millicent Fenwick, who was 72.
"It's hard when your own words come back to haunt you, isn't it?" the ad asked.
Lautenberg, 84, insisted he was criticizing Fenwick's age relative to her political experience.
In a debate last week, Andrews denied that Lautenberg's years were the issue.
"I think that he's not effective in the U.S. Senate," Andrews said. "I think it's his level of commitment for the next six years."
Lautenberg said Andrews "has done everything he can to assault my age. He doesn't talk about my effectiveness. He doesn't know effectiveness when he sees it. He hasn't had any of it" in congress.
Lautenberg is the third-oldest senator on Capitol Hill. Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia is 90, and republican Ted Stevens of Alaska is two months older than Lautenberg.
On the republican side of New Jersey's senate race, each of the three candidates has tried to position himself as a conservative champion of less government spending, with abortion rights being a key difference. Pennacchio and Sabrin oppose abortion. Zimmer supports abortion rights.
Zimmer, 63, has been out of elected politics for a dozen years after losing the 1996 U.S. senate race and a 2000 house race. He is currently a washington lawyer and lobbyist.
Pennacchio, 52, has been in the state legislature since 2001 representing Morris county, the state's second largest republican county behind Bergen. He is a dentist by trade. Sabrin ran for governor as a libertarian in 1997 and lost.
In other races, voters will decide contested primaries in seven house districts, including three where the sitting congressmen are not seeking re-election. The 1st district, which includes parts of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties, where Andrews' wife Camille S. Andrews is running against John Caramanna, David G. Evans and Mahdi Ibn-Ziyard for the democratic nomination to replace Andrews.
The 3rd district, which includes parts of Burlington, Camden and Ocean counties, where republicans John P. Kelly, Justin Michael Murphy and Chris Myers are seeking the nomination to replace retiring U.S. Rep. James Saxton. The winner will face democratic State Sen. John Adler.
The 7th district, which includes parts of Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties, where seven republicans are vying to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson. They include State Sen. Leonard Lance and Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Gov. Christie Whitman. Other republican candidates are A.D. Amar, Kelly Hatfield, Martin Marks, Tom Roughneen and Darren Young. The winner will face democratic assemblywoman Linda Stender.
Only two house incumbents faced primary challenges, republican Frank Lobiondo in the 2nd district and republican Rodney Frelinghuysen in the 11th district.
In Atlantic City, voters will decide a democratic mayoral candidate among incumbent mayor Scott Evans, former mayor Lorenzo Langford and former acting mayor Domenic Cappella. The winner will face republican John McQueen and independents Joseph Polillo and Willie Norwood.
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on the net:
new jersey division of elections: http://www.njelections.org/
