Republicans picked up three county commissioner seats in Cumberland County tonight, giving them a 7-0 majority and continued control of county government for at least two more years.
Democratic Commissioner John Capizola and his running mates, educator LaRae Hilda Smith and dentist Joeigh Perella, each have around 14% of the vote. That puts them well behind Republicans James Sauro, Sandra Taylor, and Arthur Marchand, who garnered about 19% of the vote each.
Six-term Democratic Sheriff Robert Austino has also lost re-election; Republican challenger Michael Donato leads Austino 55%-45%
And in the race for surrogate, Democrat Nicasio Acevedo has lost against Republican Rudolph “Skip” Luisi. Luisi leads Acevedo 57%-43%.
In recent years, Cumberland County has increasingly become more Republican; when Democratic County Commissioners Carol Musso and Donna Pearson decided against seeking re-election, the GOP organization led by State Sen. Michael Testa, Jr. (R-Vineland) saw a prime opportunity to expand their majority.
Tonight’s results are a big win for Testa, who now controls every single county office except for county clerk, which is up next year.
Capizola, the lone incumbent in this election, was appointed earlier this year after George Castellini resigned; he had previously run for Assembly in the 1st district, but lost the district’s Cumberland County portion by 3,469 votes.
Sauro won a freeholder seat in 2014; however, he gave it up to run for State Assembly in 2017 – he lost that race. Taylor previously ran for freeholder, but lost to Musso by 1,646 votes. Marchand’s father had been a popular freeholder and surrogate who lost re-election in 2008, after Barack Obama won Cumberland County with 60% of the vote.
The surrogate seat became open after Democrat Douglas Rainear – who had held the office since 2009 – decided to retire.
Acevedo previously headed the state Commerce Department’s Police and Small Business during Gov. James E. McGreevey’s administration. Luisi is a mortician who owns the DeMarco-Luisi Funeral Home in Vineland; he has previously served as the Vineland Jaycees president and is a founder of the Italian-American Benevolent Association and the North Italy Beneficial Association.
The sheriff race was a rematch from 2020, in which Austino beat Donato 53.6%-46.6%.
See all 2023 election results HERE.