TRENTON, N.J. -- Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the chamber's third-oldest member, easily won nomination for re-election Tuesday, surpassing a challenger who often reminded voters that Lautenberg would be nearly 91 by the end of a fifth term.

The contest between Lautenberg and Democratic Rep. Rob Andrews was one of the top races in seven states holding primaries to decide congressional contests and ballot initiatives.

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.

With 68 percent of precincts reporting, Lautenberg had 64 percent of the vote, compared with 30 percent for Andrews, according to unofficial results tallied by The Associated Press.

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.

Lautenberg and Andrews have largely ignored a third Democrat running for the nomination, Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello. The winner of their primary will compete in November against one of three Republicans: state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, Murray Sabrin, a business professor at Ramapo College, or former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer.

In other races across the nation:

-- New Mexico voters were nominating candidates for three open congressional seats and one Senate seat. All three of the state's House members -- two Republicans and a Democrat -- decided against seeking re-election and instead ran for the Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici. The six-term Republican is retiring because of a degenerative brain disease.

--Voters in one South Dakota county were to decide a proposal to build the first new oil refinery in the nation in more than 30 years. A Texas company called Hyperion Resources promoted the $10 billion facility as a step toward energy independence.

--In California, the ballot listed two property rights initiatives. Proposition 98 would phase out local rent-control ordinances for apartments, duplexes and mobile home parks. It also could make it easier for landlords to evict renters by eliminating tenant-protection rules.

Proposition 98 and its less restrictive rival on the ballot, Proposition 99, also address the rights of property owners when governments want to seize their land for private development projects, like shopping malls, hotels and housing.

Proposition 98 is part of a national backlash to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, when the court found that a Connecticut redevelopment authority had the right to seize private property for hotels, shopping centers and other private developments.

The decision marked a departure from the traditional use of eminent domain, which is typically used when governments build roads, schools or other public projects.

--In Sacramento, former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson challenged Mayor Heather Fargo to take over leadership of Johnson's hometown.

--Voters in Mendocino County, north of the Bay Area, considered whether to scale back a law allowing residents to grow up to 25 marijuana plants for medical, recreational or personal use. Supporters of the measure want to crack down on pot profiteers.

--California's most heated congressional campaign took shape in the GOP contest between state Sen. Tom McClintock and former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose, a real estate businessman. They are competing for the seat now held by Republican Rep. John Doolittle, who is retiring as he is being investigated in an influence-peddling scandal.

--In Alabama, the retirement of one of the state's longest-serving Republican congressmen offered Democrats their best chance in years to claim a seat that has been in Republican hands since 1964.

Democrats nominated Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright to try to succeed eight-term Republican Terry Everett. The Republican field was crowded with six candidates, including three state lawmakers and a surgeon who has pumped more than $500,000 of his own money into his campaign. Unless one of them gets at least 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers would compete in a July 15 runoff.

-- In Iowa, six-term congressman Leonard Boswell sought to put down a challenge from a more liberal opponent, largely by drawing attention to Ed Fallon's support for Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential race. Fallon concedes the endorsement was probably his "worst political decision" but said he's repeatedly apologized for backing Nader. And he notes that Al Gore narrowly won Iowa.