Donna Pearson is holding on to second place in the Democratic primary for three seats on the Cumberland County Board of Freeholders, with incumbent George Castellini leading his running mate, Bruce Cooper, by 141 votes.
Incumbent Carol Musso has been the top vote-getter for the last week and now has 7,027 votes – up 266 from her total on Saturday.
Pearson, a former freeholder who ran off-the-line against the organization slate, gained 231 votes since the weekend and is now at 5,942. She entered the race to run with incumbent Jack Surrency, who lost party support in his bid for a second term.
Cooper, a Millville commissioner, was picked by county Democrats to replace Surrency on the organization line.
Castellini saw his lead over Cooper drop by six votes after some ballots were counted on Tuesday. He added 218 additional votes and is now at 5,985. Cooper added 226 more votes and is now at 5,754.
Tracey Wells-Huggins (5,330) and Surrency (4,950) have been consistently in running fifth and sixth, respectively.
Pearson is a former Bridgeton city councilwoman and freeholder who has been out of office for 17 years. In addition to Surrency and Wells-Huggins, Pearson was bracketed on the ballot with Democratic congressional candidate Amy Kennedy.
Kennedy leads Brigid Callahan Harrison, the candidate backed by the local Democratic organization, by a 52%-29% margin in Cumberland.
