Cape May mayor challenging four-term congressman
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew and Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock are set to face off during a debate Oct. 22 in the Campus Center Theatre at Stockton University.
Sponsored by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University and The Press of Atlantic City, the one-hour debate will not have a live audience but will be live-streamed on the Hughes Center’s YouTube page beginning at 6 p.m.
Members of the public can submit potential questions for the candidates by emailing hughescenter@stockton.edu (put “CD2 Questions” in the subject line).
Panelists Nicholas Huba, digital editor for The Press, and Alyssa Maurice, assistant director for the Hughes Center, will pose questions to the candidates.
Maurice said Democrats face an uphill battle in the district, where Van Drew has held elected office for decades. In addition, voter registration continues to favor Republicans.
The latest figures for the district show 207,654 unaffiliated voters, 201,759 Republicans and 178,060 Democrats.
“Van Drew is so deeply established and benefits from a long political carer in the district,” she said, noting his support goes beyond the Trump base.
However, Maurice said, independents make up the largest voter bloc and Democrats are hoping those disenchanted with President Donald Trump’s administration will support their candidate.
Maurice said midterms are always hard for the party in power and right now voters are crushed by high costs and wary about a foreign war, but questions whether that will “stick to Van Drew.”
“Will voters frustrated with Trump view Van Drew as an extension of that or a well-known local representative?”
Maurice said Trump and Van Drew won the district by double-digit margins in the last election and Jack Ciattarelli carried it by 7 points over Gov. Mikie Sherrill last fall.
Still, she said, Democrats added the district to their list of hopefuls.
“People are frustrated and they are hoping that Democrats will be especially energized and perhaps Republicans who are frustrated with the administration, perhaps turnout will be dampened,” Maurice said.
Mullock, the two-term mayor of America’s First Seaside Resort, secured the Democratic nomination and is challenging the four-term MAGA Republican congressman.
He heard from leaders in education, independent living, support services, social justice and disability protections during the Moms for Mullock community solutions-focused listening session Sept. 9 at Stockton.
Mullock, who help found the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May, said he was unhappy with the way the country was moving and wanted to make a difference, but what really drove him to challenge Van Drew was the congressman’s silence on the removal of plaques in Philadelphia honoring African American history.
“You work so hard to be a congressman, to represent your people, and to me, you have a moral obligation to stand up when things are so clearly wrong. And when I heard silence from our representative, I just said, ‘This is so different than the reaction that I would have, and I just can’t stand to sit by and watch,” he told the crowd that evening.
He criticized Van Drew for supporting Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut Medicaid payments and made it more difficult for beneficiaries to secure needed funding.
He said the budget bill “cut everything at the bottom so that we make sure that the top 1 percent gets their cut. It’s insane. You can’t listen to these stories and not recognize these are the changes that we need to make to protect those who are most vulnerable. If we’re not doing that as a government, what are we actually doing?”
The district is among the poorest in the state. The $84,183 median household income is well below the state median of $104,294 and 43.1 percent of children live below 200 percent of the poverty line. In Cumberland County, 28.8 percent of children face food insecurity, the highest rate in the state (13.5 statewide), and in Atlantic County, 15.5 percent of school-age children live in poverty
The One Big Beautiful Bill cut $187 billion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over 10 years.
Maurice expects the congressman to focus on local issues as much as possible, highlighting his wins.
Speaking to a packed room of Cape May County Chamber of Commerce members Aug. 20 in Cape May Court House, Van Drew said southern New Jersey is receiving more federal investment than at any other time in history.
The Dennis Township resident recently secured $500,000 in federal funding for the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign to expand its Police Patrol Car program beyond New Jersey.
On Oct. 7, he announced a dredging project for the Townsends Inlet Bridge in Cape May County. The navigation route under the bridge has become increasingly dangerous, with shifting sand narrowing the channel.
On Oct. 13, he joined local officials to break ground on the South Jersey Broadband project, a major expansion of southern New Jersey’s internet infrastructure supported by $24.1 million in federal funding. The project will bring more than 180 miles of new fiber infrastructure to the region, increasing competition among internet providers and helping bring faster, more affordable service to residents and businesses.
Democrats hope the election Nov. 3 is a referendum on the current Republican Party and Trump administration and think Van Drew is vulnerable.
“Mullock has the opportunity to present himself as a change candidate. He will focus on kitchen table issues and characterize himself as a moderate who is willing to work across the aisle to deliver,” she said.
After serving at the local, county and state levels as a Democrat, Van Drew was elected to represent the congressional district in 2018 and took office Jan. 3, 2019. Late in 2019 he declared his allegiance to the Republican Party after opposing the first impeachment of Trump.
After his announcement, Van Drew visited the White House and met with Trump, declaring his “undying support always.” Van Drew was re-elected in 2020, that time as a Republican, then again in 2022 and 2024.
He ran unopposed in the June primary this year, seeking a fifth term representing the state’s largest district, which covers a wide swath of southern New Jersey, including Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties, in addition to a portion of Gloucester, Ocean and Burlington counties.
A proponent of beach replenishment, he has been actively working to secure federal funding for re-nourishment along the southern New Jersey shore after federal funds for replenishment in 2026 were cut from the federal budget.
Maurice said many view the district as safe Republican territory based on history.
Van Drew was the only Democrat to hold the seat since Bill Hughes retired in 1994. Frank LoBiondo held the seat from 1995 to 2018. Van Drew served one year as a Democrat before changing parties.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff