Hurley: Levinson will seek 7th term as Atlantic County Executive

Ending speculating that he might retire, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson will seek a seventh term, WPG talk radio personality Harry Hurley reported today.

“As I’ve said many times throughout my tenure, I am extremely proud to serve as the county executive of the finest run county in New Jersey,” Levinson told Hurley.

He is the prohibitive favorite to win re-election this year.

Levinson is the longest-serving county executive in New Jersey history.  He was elected in 1999 after another Republican, Richard Squires, retired after 20 years in office.  Levinson defeated Democrat Thomas Foley, a former assemblyman who is now a Republican, by 2,523 votes, 53%-47%.

In his five re-election campaigns, Levinson has not fallen below the 60% mark.  He defeated Northfield Councilwoman Susan Korngut in 2019 by 10,552 votes, 62%-38%.

The 77-year-old Levinson is a former high school history teacher who served as a Northfield councilman and freeholder-at-large before replacing Squires.

Republicans have held the Atlantic County Executive post since 1979, when Squires unseated Democratic incumbent Charles Worthington.  Worthington gave up his State Assembly seat to seek the post in 1975, after voters approved a charter change that created a County Executive form of government.

He is also the only Republican among New Jersey’s five county executives.  When Levinson was first elected in 1999, there were Republican county executives in Bergen, Essex and Mercer counties; the only Democrat was Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski.