Burlington county commissioner won’t seek re-election to fourth term

Tom Pullion will not seek re-election after three terms as a Burlington County Commissioner, and Democrats are set to endorse a candidate to replace him on February 28.

Pullion was elected in 2017, the first in a string of Democratic victories that flipped Burlington County government from 5-0 Republican to 5-0 Democratic over three successive cycles.

Seeking party support for county commissioner are former Deputy Commissioner of Human Services Jonathan Chebra and Mount Laurel Councilman Nikitas Moustakas.   A third candidate, Shamong Democratic Municipal Anastasia Zuccaro, has withdrawn.

Party insiders say Chebra is the favorite.

Chebra was now-Rep. Herb Conaway’s chief of staff when he served in the State Assembly, and a former aide to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.  He spent four years at the New Jersey Hospital Association and five years at the Department of Human Services, where he also served as chief of staff.  He joined Hackensack Meridian Health last month as vice president for regulatory and community affairs.   Moustakas is an attorney.

Another incumbent, County Commissioner Randy Brolo, is also on the ballot for renomination this year.  Brolo won a 2025 special election convention to replace Balvir Singh, who gave up his county post to succeed take Conaway’s seat in the State Assembly.  Brolo is the South Jersey business development manager of the Laborers’ Union.

Republicans had controlled Burlington County for most of the last seven decades. Democrats won control in 1958 and held on to it until 1963. Republicans lost control again in 1964 and won it back in 1966. Democrats took back the Board of Freeholders in 1973, and the GOP took it back for good in 1975.

A strong GOP county organization led by Glenn Paulsen and Bill Layton held off changing demographics and voter registration – the Democratic edge in voter registration has expanded to 46,572; in 2007, Burlington had 746 more Republicans than Democrats – until it was no longer possible.

Republican Freeholders Bruce Garganio and Linda Hughes were unseated by Pullion and Singh. Pullion, a former mayor of Edgewater Park, won by more than 5,000 votes; Singh, a teacher who served on the Burlington Township Board of Education, beat Garganio by 2,246 votes.

Democrats flipped two more seats in 2018 – that was the Donald Trump midterm that led to newcomer Andy Kim ousting a four-term Republican congressman – and beat the last Republican freeholder, Latham Tiver (now a state senator) in 2019.

Pullion spent fifteen years as an Edgewater Park township committeeman and is a former school board member.

This story was updated at 12:28 PM to reflect that Zuccaro has dropped out of the race.