Assemblyman Anthony Angelozzi (D-Hammonton) is not ruling out a 2027 state Senate bid against freshman State Sen. Latham Tiver (R-Southampton) in the 8th legislative district, one of the most competitive in the state.
Tiver and State Sen. Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township) sit atop the target list of Democratic powerbroker George E. Norcross III, who wants to return both seats to the South Jersey Democratic delegation.
“I’ve not made any decisions yet, and that’s something that the Atlantic County Democratic Party and the Burlington County Democratic Party will have discussions about,” Angelozzi said. “I’m a team player, so whether it’s myself or somebody else, I’m certainly going to be supportive of that.”
The 8th is one of the few split legislative districts in New Jersey, sending two Democrats to the Assembly while electing a Republican to the State Senate.
Tiver, an official at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825, was elected to the Senate in 2023 after Republican Jean Stanfield (R-Westhampton) stepped down after one term. He defeated former Pemberton Councilwoman Gaye Burton by 1,157 votes, a margin of two points.
Angelozzi, a freshman assemblyman and 10th-grade history teacher, was elected last year after unseating Republican incumbent Michael Torrissi (R-Hammonton) in a rematch of their razor-thin 2023 contest. In that race, Angelozzi, the president of the Hammonton Education Association, fell just 443 votes short of Torrisi. The district’s other Assembly seat was won by now-second-term Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-Chesterfield), defeating the seat’s other Republican incumbent, Brandon Umba (R-Medford).
Katz is also presumably interested in the Senate, but it’s possible Democrats might go outside the delegation and pick someone else to take on Tiver.
“I’m looking for a consensus,” said Angelozzi, who indicated that he would support the party’s pick, whether that is Katz or someone else.
Last year, Angelozzi outpolled Katz by a slim 32 votes.
In 2023, Democrats focused on flipping State Assembly seats and spent little on Burton, who joined the race late after the nominee, Evesham Councilwoman Heather Cooper, dropped out of the race in August. The party’s choice was Janet DiFolco, a Mount Holly school board member whose husband worked for Norcross’ insurance company. Burton won a special convention with about 60% of the vote amid concerns that DiFolco had switched parties only a few weeks before the vote.
The 8th had been leaning competitive for several cycles before Katz’s narrow, upset win in 2023. The last Democrat to win the district was John Sweeney (D-Florence) in 1975 – he lost two years later to James Saxton (R-Mount Holly), who went on to serve twelve terms as a congressman. The seat was briefly in Democratic hands after State Sen. Dawn Addiego (D-Evesham) switched parties and then lost to Stanfield.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill won the 8th by 5.5 points in 2025; Republican Jack Ciattarelli had won it by 9 points against Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021. The district went for Kamala Harris by one point in 2024 and for Joe Biden by a point in 2020.