The New Jersey Globe projects that Democrat Ernest Coursey has won re-election to a fourth term on the Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, leading Republican businesswoman Vern Macon by a 55%-45% margin in the 1st district as of 11:33 p.m.
As of 11:32 p.m., two Republican incumbents, At-Large Commissioner Amy Gatto and 4th District Commissioner Richard Dase, have also won re-election to their county commissioner seats, leaving the GOP with a 7-2 majority. (The board of commissioners consists of four at-large seats and five district-based seats.)
Gatto, a former Hamilton Township mayor, leads Democrat Habib Rehman 58%-42%; Dase, a former aide to Rep. Frank LoBiondo, coasted to a sixth three-year term against Democrat Kathleen Galante.
Coursey, who served as a city councilman in Atlantic City from 1991 to 2002, faced a tougher-than-usual race after redistricting.
A Democratic map picked by a court-appointed tiebreaker deliberately made the 1st district more politically competitive by separating heavily Democratic Atlantic City and Pleasantville, replacing Pleasantville with more Republican-leaning towns. That meant the Atlantic City-based Coursey had to fight for re-election, but it also means that when the new Pleasantville seat comes up in 2024, Democrats have a solid chance to flip it.
The lone Democratic at-large commissioner, Caren Fitzpatrick, is up for re-election in 2023. It’s still not clear if she will seek a third term or make a second bid for the legislature.
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