Atlantic City, NJ Council Election Results Are Tightening

In Atlantic City, New Jersey the Primary Election is almost always the equivalent of the General Election.

With the exception of the 6th Ward and sometimes the 5th Ward … the Democratic June Primary Election winner is all but certain to be the ultimate winner in the November General Election.

This year is no exception.

With provisional ballots and any late mail-in ballots still to be counted, the 2nd Ward race is razor tight.

As of this moment, challenger Viana Bailey leads incumbent Councilwoman LaToya Dunston by a margin of 264-260.

The Dunston campaign believes that it will prevail based on running a better overall campaign … which they believe will extend to the remaining ballots still to be counted.

Should Dunston win, she will have done so without the advantage of running in the Column A regular Democratic placement.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small and Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman schemed to take Dunston off the regular Democratic line on the ballot.

Small and Suleiman did the same thing to incumbent Councilman MD Hossain Morshed in the 4th Ward.

It appears that they will succeed here, with challenger George Crouch likely to prevail.

It was an easily winnable race for Morshed, however, Atlantic City political potentate Craig Callaway did not support Morshed.

Instead, Callaway supported challenger Abusaeed "Saeed" Asduha. Morshed and Asduha split their similar vote, likely paving the way for Crouch to win.

It was a miscalculation that (if it holds) could give Small a 5-4 majority support of City Council.

Voters have until June 12, 2023 for their mail-in ballots to be received, however, they must be postmarked no later than Primary Election Day, Tuesday, June 6, 2023.

To avoid Small taking back the majority support of City Council, Republican challenger Maria Lacca will have to defeat incumbent 5th Ward Councilman Muhammad "Anjum" Zia.