Atlantic County Democrats narrowly voted to endorse Tim Alexander for the 2nd congressional district today, marking the third consecutive cycle Alexander has received the county party’s endorsement in the Republican-leaning South Jersey district.
On the initial ballot, Alexander, a civil rights attorney and former detective, received 93 votes to former USAID official Bayly Winder’s 84, Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock’s 19, and local activist Terri Reese’s 2. After Reese and Mullock were eliminated via ranked-choice voting, Alexander emerged victorious 101 votes to 95, or 52% to 48%. (A fifth candidate for the seat, math teacher Bill Finn, did not compete for the endorsement.)
Alexander went into the convention with the endorsement of Atlantic Democratic chairman Michael Suleiman and a fair bit of institutional support, especially in Atlantic City. Winder had quite a few local endorsements of his own, while Mullock was nominated at the convention by Assemblywoman Maureen Rowan (D-Atlantic City), one of the two Atlantic Democrats serving in the legislature.
Atlantic Democrats also endorsed Cory Booker for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Sean Riggin for county sheriff, Lisa Bender for county clerk, Jonathan Marcellus and Kyle Gornick for county commissioner at-large, and Richard Healey for the 3rd district commissioner seat. All six were uncontested.
Alexander had previously received Atlantic Democrats’ endorsement in both 2022 and 2024, winning the convention each year in a landslide; the county makes up around one-third of the 2nd district’s Democratic electorate, more than any other county in the district. He went on to win the Democratic primary in the former year, but lost a close race to a better-funded candidate in the latter.
Winder said that, given that he made the convention far more competitive than Alexander’s past opponents, he believes he has momentum in the 2nd district race.
“We’re really encouraged by what we saw,” Winder said. “The fact that we came that close made a big statement.”
Earlier this week, Cumberland County Democrats also awarded their endorsement to Alexander, though they did not release vote totals so it’s impossible to know how close the victory was. The 2nd district’s four other Democratic county parties are all set to conduct their own endorsement processes in the coming weeks.
Mullock and Winder, however, have both raised significantly more money than Alexander thus far, and the race is likely to remain contested through the June primary. The victor will face Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), who won his two most recent re-election campaigns in landslides but whom some Democrats hope might be more vulnerable this year.
