Democrat retains Atlantic commissioner seat; GOP appears likely to win other county races

Democrats have retained their lone seat on the Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, with incumbent Collins Days defeating party-switching Atlantic City Councilman George Tibbitt. Days leads Tibbitt, 8,119 to 5,910.

Republicans appear likely to hold the open commissioner-at-large seat with Hamilton Mayor Art Schenker, who faces Democrat Victoria Dolceamore, a music composer, for the seat of Republican Amy Gatto. Gatto did not seek a fourth term. Schenker leads, 46,822 to 45,822.

In the 4th district, Republican Rich Dase won re-election to a seventh term. He defeated Democrat Jonathan Marcellus, though the margin was perhaps closer than the longtime incumbent would have liked: 52.1%-47.9%.

Atlantic County Surrogate James Curcio was re-elected to his fourth five-year term, outdistancing Democrat Sherri Parmenter, a Galloway school board member, 48,580-45,044.

An Atlantic City pastor, Days has been in office since August, when he won a special election convention to replace Ernest D. Coursey, a five-term county commissioner who died on August 1. Coursey had announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election due to health reasons.

Tibbitt, the president of the Atlantic City Council and an ex-Democrat, was considered a candidate recruitment homerun.

Thanks to Atlantic City, the district still leans definitively blue — Phil Murphy carried it 55%-44% in 2021.

The 1st district used to be prohibitively blue, but Democrats made a gamble during the 2022 redistricting process by drawing a map that put the down beach towns of Margate, Ventnor, and Longport into the district, making it more competitive. In exchange, Pleasantville was added to the 2nd district, giving Democrats a better chance of winning there — but 2nd district Commissioner Maureen Kern was still re-elected in 2024 against Pleasantville Councilwoman Joanne Famularo, who’s now running for the State Assembly.

Democrat Phil Murphy carried the new 1st district by eleven points in 2021.

Schenker is a member of the United Association of Plumbers Local 322 and a former secretary-treasurer of the Atlantic & Cape May Central Labor Council. This was his second bid for countywide; he ran as a Democrat in 2010 but lost an at-large race to Republican Joe McDevitt.

Dase was a Galloway councilman before winning his county commissioner seat.

Gatto began her career as an elected official in 2005 when she won a Hamilton Township school board seat at age 23. She was elected to the township committee in 2007, and at age 29, she became the youngest and third woman mayor in Hamilton history.

In 2016, Gatto ran for freeholder after incumbent Will Pauls, a Republican, decided not to run again after losing an Assembly race one year earlier.  She was re-elected in 2019 with 59% of the vote and in 2022 with 58%.