Frelinghuysen is an institution at this point. I'd be shocked if he goes down.
Edwards was running in a deep red seat though. Frelinghuysen's seat is R+3 (and as superbudgie already said, Frelinghuysen is an institution).
I'd argue that Edwards was an instutition as well, given that he was in Congress for 20 years before he lost.
The Frelinghuysen family has been in politics for over 200 years. Let that sink in, since the founding of the United States. Frelinghuysen's father was a congressman for 20 years. I can't overstate how much of an institution this family is.
This would be a lot more meaningful if he represented some rural area that hasn't changed much in 200 years, such as Vermont, where his name would actually be a household name and the family as a whole remembered fondly. "Frelinghuysen" is not a household name in New Jersey, even within his district, and the people of Morris County (and the other parts of his district) are not the kind of people that are going to view 200 years of electing Frelinghuysens as an especially important tradition (or even one meaningful to them). He's not nearly as much of an institution as you are implying.
