Zack Mullock gets Dem nod to challenge Jeff Van Drew in NJ-2

Zack Mullock, the mayor of the city of Cape May, has won the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 2nd district, the New Jersey Globe projects, and will challenge Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) in a race that could represent a reach opportunity for Democrats this year.

As of 10:24 p.m. and with the vast majority of votes counted, Mullock has 40% of the vote; civil rights attorney and former detective Tim Alexander has 28%, former USAID official Bayly Winder has 22%, and local activist Terri Reese has 11%.

Beating Van Drew, a former Democrat who defected to the GOP in 2019 and is now a loyal ally of President Donald Trump, will be a challenging task – one that will likely require more involvement from state and national Democrats than the district got in 2022 and 2024, when it was roundly ignored by both parties.

The district, which covers a broad swath of South Jersey, votes reliably for Republicans, even supporting Jack Ciattarelli for governor by seven points last year as he got routed statewide. A Democratic-aligned group released polling last year that showed Van Drew, who was unopposed in his own primary tonight, could be vulnerable in a perfect storm, but there’s been no public data since then to back it up.

Still, Democratic optimism both in the 2nd district and nationwide has increased over the last year, and Mullock’s primary victory may give them yet more reason to hope. Prior to the election, national Democrats had signaled that Mullock was the candidate they viewed as the most viable and worthy of their support (and that Alexander, if he won the primary, would take the district off the playing field).

That, in fact, was Mullock’s main pitch to primary voters. Though he got in the race later than his three opponents, spent much less money than Winder, and had never run for office outside of his remote hometown before, Mullock said he gave Democrats their best shot at unseating Van Drew – and voters evidently listened.

Alexander, meanwhile, relied heavily on the goodwill he built up during his first two campaigns for the seat; he was the nominee against Van Drew in 2022 and narrowly lost a Democratic primary in 2024. That was enough to earn him the support of four of the district’s six party organizations, but as in his past campaigns, Alexander struggled mightily at fundraising.

(Alexander is currently leading in two of his endorsed counties, Salem and Ocean, and losing to Mullock in two others, Atlantic and Cumberland. Mullock has a huge advantage in his home of Cape May County, and Winder has a small lead in Gloucester County, where local Democrats declined to pick a horse in the race.)

Winder ran as the most explicitly progressive and anti-establishment choice of the three main contenders, with a particular focus on combating data center development. His aggressive campaign approach, though, rubbed some people the wrong way, and both Alexander and Reese said they wouldn’t support Winder in November if he became the nominee.