Cumberland County’s Board of Commissioners is 4-3 Democrat at the moment, Save Jerseyans, but it could flip to 4-3 Republican on Tuesday if incumbent Doug Albrecht is reelected alongside his GOP running made, Tori Lods.
South Jersey Republicans like their chances including the packed ballroom who gathered for the county GOP’s weekly breakfast in Vineland on Saturday morning (see above).
Why?
To start with, the working class rural county home to only about 150,000 souls is also home to a large number of Hispanic immigrants and seems uniquely situated to switch allegiances this year since most public polls show the working class and Hispanic voters in particular shifting dramatically away from Democrats over concerns with inflation, crime, and classroom instruction. The county’s trajectory has been right-facing for a few cycle now. Senator Mike Testa of Vineland (who doubles as county chairman) won an upset victory in 2019, and his organization solidified a 3 sear near-majority in 2021 when Antonio Romero and Joseph V. Sileo rode a mini South Jersey wave with a roughly 4,000 vote margin over their Democrat opponents.
An added bonus: Congressman Jeff Van Drew (who’s carried the county as a Democrat and later a Republican) is expected to secure reelection by a wide margin amid a building red wave after failing to draw a well-funded challenger.
The odds of a change of control in Bridgeton this cycle?
“It was already going to be a tough race before the polls turned against them,” one veteran GOP operative told Save Jersey on Saturday, referring to the Democrat incumbents. “Gloucester [County]’s the easier pick up, but they’re sweating bullets for sure.”
Testa’s sprawling home base of Vineland – home to roughly 40% of the county’s population – is likely the key battleground to watch.
The implications of a Cumberland victory are regional in character. Victories in Gloucester and Cumberland this year would relegate the once legendary South Jersey Democrat Machine to its original boundaries contained almost entirely inside of Camden County; next up would be an attempted GOP reconquest of LD4 in 2023.
