Five years after arrest on assault charges, Arthur Barclay wins Camden City Council primary

Five years ago, Assemblyman Arthur Barclay (D-Camden) resigned his seat in the legislature after being arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. Today, he won a Democratic primary for a city council seat in Camden.

Barclay was one of four Democratic organization-backed candidates for the city council; all four of those candidates have won against off-the-line challengers, the New Jersey Globe projects.

As of 11:29 p.m., Barclay has 83% of the vote in his 1st ward race against Jose Javier Ramos, who is affiliated with the Progressive Democrats for Camden City slate. Though there’s still technically a general election in November, winning the Democratic primary in Camden is tantamount to election, so Barclay is near-certain to join the council come 2024.

Democratic organization candidates also prevailed in the 2nd ward, where Councilman Christopher Collins crushed Elton Custis and Theo Spencer, and in the 4th ward, where newcomer Jannette Ramos leads Delbert Neal.

Finally, in the 3rd ward, incumbent Councilwoman Marilyn Torres has lost renomination for another term after she and two other councilwomen broke with the Democratic organization in early 2022. She’ll be succeeded by party-backed challenger Falio Leyba-Martinez.