In what may be a shocking upset, Democrat Andrea Katz has taken an extremely narrow lead for one of two Assembly seats in the 8th legislative district. With new votes counted out of Burlington County, Katz leads Assemblyman Brandon Umba (R-Medford) by 27 votes, 27,037 to 27,010.
On election night, the race had looked over; the New Jersey Globe and the Associated Press both called the race for Umba. That was evidently premature.
It’s not immediately clear where the newly counted votes came from; there are 675 uncounted provisional ballots (though not all will likely end up being counted), and more mail-in ballots could still come in as well, so the results remain in flux. If the margin stays as close as it is now, a recount is very possible.
Assemblyman Michael Torrissi (R-Hammonton) continues to be in first place with 27,502 votes, while Democrat Anthony Angelozzi is in fourth place with 26,849. In the district’s Senate race, former Burlington County Freeholder Latham Tiver (R-Southampton) leads former Pemberton Township Councilwoman Gaye Burton by 28,013 votes to 26,648, a margin of 51%-49%.
Katz, the Democratic municipal chair in Chesterfield, and Angelozzi, the president of the Hammonton Education Association, ran a spirited campaign and had the financial backing of the South Jersey Democratic organization. But in a competitive district that had been redrawn to be more Republican on the state’s new legislative map, both were considered to be underdogs.
The 8th district had hosted the most expensive and competitive race of 2021, in which party-switching State Sen. Dawn Addiego (D-Evesham) lost to Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield (R-Westampton) 51%-49%. Umba and Torrissi were both first elected that year by a slightly larger margin.