LD-2 Dem primary between Famularo, Weekes still unresolved

Democrats in Atlantic County wanting to know what their Assembly ticket will be in the competitive 2nd legislative district will have to wait a little while longer.

In numbers that haven’t been updated since election night, Maureen Rowan, a retired attorney who was supported by the Atlantic County Democratic organization, came in first place and has secured a spot in the general election with 8,623 votes, or 28.9%.

But the race for the second seat is still too close to call: party-backed Pleasantville Councilwoman Joanne Famularo has 7,251 votes (24.3%), while former Atlantic City Councilman Bruce Weekes, who ran on a slate with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, has 7,169 votes (24.0%) – a separation of just 82 votes.

There are 754 Election Day provisional ballots in the 2nd legislative district, though not all of those will end up being counted, as well as 208 early voting provisional ballots from Atlantic County as a whole, which is mostly but not entirely located in the 2nd district. Another 34 2nd district vote-by-mail ballots also have yet to be processed.

Lisa Bonanno, a Linwood school board member and Weekes’s running mate, has 6,777 votes (22.7%), putting her out of contention for the nomination.

It’s not clear exactly when more votes will be counted, or who stands to benefit. Rowan and Famularo seem to have done best in the whiter outlying portions of the district, while Weekes performed well in the district’s urban core in Atlantic City (and, to a lesser extent, Pleasantville); the Fulop ticket had the support of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr., and Weekes would be the district’s second-ever Black nominee if he wins.

The district’s battle-tested Republican incumbents, Assemblyman Don Guardian (R-Atlantic City) and Assemblywoman Claire Swift (R-Margate), are running for re-election.