Republicans sweep Atlantic County offices

Atlantic County Republicans appear to have managed a clean sweep of county offices, winning every seat up this year – including two currently held by Democrats.

Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, a Republican, has won re-election to an unprecedented seventh term. As of 12:14 a.m., he leads Democrat Joyce Pratt 63%-37%; Pratt was the replacement Democratic candidate after the party’s initial nominee, Peggy Capone, died in August.

In the closely-watched race for sheriff, two-term incumbent Eric Scheffler has lost a rematch with Egg Harbor Township Committeeman Joe “Tokyo” O’Donoghue; O’Donoghue leads 55%-45%. Scheffler had defeated O’Donoghue by nine percentage points in 2020.

Republicans also picked up one county commissioner seat, with Linwood Councilwoman June Byrnes capturing the seat vacated by incumbent Commissioner Caren Fitzpatrick (D-Linwood) to run for the State Senate. That brings the GOP majority to 8-1, with Ernest Coursey as the lone Democrat.

Commissioner John Risley (R-Egg Harbor Township), now in his 24th year as a county commissioner, is leading the pack with 31%, followed by Byrnes (30%), and Democrats Kim O’Brien (20%) and Habib Rehman (19%) in the contest for two at-large seats.

And in the race for commissioner in the 3rd district, incumbent Republican Andrew Parker won a second term. He leads Democrat Hector Tavarez, a retired police officer and onetime congressional candidate, 61%-39%.

Parker, a former Egg Harbor Township committeeman, narrowly lost his campaign in 2020 to Thelma Witherspoon, but the county clerk had failed to mail the correct ballots to some voters. A judge ordered a do-over election in 2021, a much more Republican year, and Parker easily won a rematch against Witherspoon.

Levinson was a Northfield councilman and Atlantic County Freeholder before winning election as county executive in 1999. He is the third person to hold the post since it was created in 1975, and is the longest-serving county executive in New Jersey history.

See all 2023 election results HERE.