Guardian wins re-election, Democrats likely to pick up second seat

Assemblyman Don Guardian (R-Atlantic City) has won re-election to a third term in the 2nd district, but the contest for the second Assembly seat is too close to call and significantly favors a Democratic pickup and the likely defeat of Assemblywoman Claire Swift (R-Margate).

No winner is expected until Wednesday, November 12, when the Atlantic County Board of Elections is next scheduled to meet.

Democrat Maureen Rowan is in second place with 38,195 votes, and the other Democratic candidate, Joanne Famularo, is at 38,009 — 186 votes out of second place.  Swift is in fourth place with 37,932; she’s 263 votes behind Rowan.

There are 567 vote-by-mail ballots that have not yet been counted – this includes late-arriving, appropriately postmarked VBMs and mail-in ballots that were cast on Election Day but not collected from drop boxes until 8 PM.

Additionally, election officials are currently reviewing 1,403 provisional ballots, which may be counted next week.

Rowan is a retired attorney who moved from Philadelphia to Atlantic City about seven years ago and registered to vote in the state in 2021.  Famularo is a Pleasantville councilwoman who won the Democratic primary by 36 votes.  Guardian, the former mayor of Atlantic City, and Swift, a former deputy attorney general, flipped the two Assembly seats in 2021.