Small wins Atlantic City mayoral primary despite indictment

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. has won the Democratic primary, defeating Bob McDevitt, the former president of Unite Here Local 54, the casino workers union, 62% to 37%, despite a pending indictment.

He will face Republican Naeem Ahmed Khan in the November general election.

In races for three At-Large City Council seats, incumbents Patricia Bailey and Stephanie Marshall and their running mate, Mohammed Suhel Ahmed, running with Small, defeated McDevitt’s running mates, Mohammed Akbar Hussain, Steven Young, and Andra Kimbrough Williams. The Small-aligned candidates each won about 2,000 votes, while McDevitt’s running mates have maxed out at about 1,500 as of 11:30 p.m.

A third incumbent, George Tibbit, switched parties earlier this year and is running for Atlantic County Commissioner in District 1.  He will face Rev. Collins A. Days, Sr., the pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Atlantic City.   The longtime Democratic incumbent, Ernest Coursey, is not seeking re-election.

Small became mayor in 2019 following Frank Gilliam’s resignation after admitting to stealing nearly $100,000 from a youth basketball program. He’s currently battling allegations that he physically and mentally abused his teenage daughter, but still won endorsements from local Democrats — even though he ran on gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop’s Democrats for Change slogan — and the Atlantic City police union. 

Gilliam had ousted Republican Mayor Don Guardian by 1,396 votes, 58%-39%, in the 2017 general election.  Guardian is now an assemblyman from the 2nd legislative district. 

Democrats currently have a 6-3 majority on the city council.  Tibbit is the only Republican council seat up this year.

In his 2021 re-election campaign, Small defeated Republican Thomas Forkin by a 54%-21% margin in a six-candidate field.

This is Small’s third Democratic primary victory. 

Four years ago, Small defeated Thomas Foley, a former assemblyman and freeholder, in the Democratic primary.  Ahmed, now on the Small slate, ran with Foley in that election.

In a special primary for Gilliam’s unexpired term in 2020, Small defeated Pamela Thomas-Fields in the Democratic primary.