Pleasantville City Councilwoman Joanne Famularo will run for Atlantic County Commissioner this year, giving Democrats an established candidate against Commissioner Director Maureen Kern (R-Somers Point) in a district that was recently redrawn to be more favorable to their party.
For decades, Pleasantville had been joined together with Atlantic City on the Atlantic County commissioner map, creating one majority-minority district that consistently voted for Democrats – and leaving the board’s four other district-based seats as largely white and Republican-leaning. (The board of commissioners is made up of five district seats and four at-large seats.)
But during the 2022 redistricting process, Democrats successfully convinced the redistricting commission tiebreaker to put Atlantic City and Pleasantville in separate districts, giving Democrats a shot at winning both seats. Pleasantville was put with Absecon, Northfield, Linwood, and Somers Point in the 2nd district; Kern, a Somers Point politician who was first elected to the board in 2015, now faces a real race for the first time in her commissioner career.
The new 2nd district is 25% Hispanic and 20% Black, and backed Joe Biden in 2020 by 15 percentage points in 2020 (but voted for Republican Jack Ciattarelli in 2021). Famularo, who is white, will work to defeat Kern this year and increase the Democratic delegation on the commissioner board to two seats; Commissioner Ernest Coursey (D-Atlantic City) is currently the only Democrat on the nine-member board.
“As a fiscally-responsible small businesswoman, I’ve navigated the challenges of balancing budgets and making tough financial decisions,” Famularo said in a statement. “My experiences as an entrepreneur have instilled in me a deep understanding of the economic realities our community faces. If elected, I am determined to bring my business acumen to the forefront, working tirelessly to cut wasteful government spending and to make Atlantic County a more affordable place to live.”
Famularo is set to be officially nominated for the seat at this Sunday’s Atlantic Democratic convention alongside two other county candidates: Susan Lazarchick for the 5th district and Kim O’Brien for an at-large seat.
Lazarchick will face Commissioner James Bertino (R-Hammonton), who is in no danger of losing in the county’s most Republican commissioner district. O’Brien, on the other hand, could have a very real shot at defeating Republican at-large candidate Michael Raffu, whom Republicans chose to succeed retiring Commissioner Frank Balles (R-Egg Harbor Township).