Bill Gormley

Six of New Jersey’s forty legislative districts send both Democrats and Republicans to Trenton, and each of those six could do the same after the November midterm election.

In District 1, Republican State Senator Nicholas Asselta faces a challenge from Democratic Assemblyman Jefferson Van Drew in a district that split in 2001 and 2003.  Van Drew’s running mate, Nelson Albano (who ousted veteran GOP Assemblyman Jack Gibson two years ago) faces a tough race for re-election.  This district could split two different ways: a Senator from one party and two Assemblymen from the other, or each party could elect one Assemblyman.

A decade ago, there were ten Republicans who dominated politics in their counties: Bill Gormley in Atlantic, Pat Schuber in Bergen, Glenn Paulsen in Burlington, James Treffinger in Essex, Robert Prunetti in Mercer, Harry Larrison in Monmouth, George Gilmore in Ocean, Peter Murphy in Passaic, Dale Florio in Somerset, and Donald DiFrancesco in Union. Today, Democrats have completely overtaken five of those counties, and the Republicans are now playing defense in the other five.

If not for his criminal conviction, Craig Callaway would be taking office as the Mayor of Atlantic City.  He resigned as City Council President last year after being sentenced to 40 months in a federal prison for accepting bribes.  

Callaway was one of several recent Atlantic City Councilmen to be convicted on corruption charges: Gibb Jones got five years on probation for extortion and Ramon Rosario was sentenced to ten months in prison for taking bribes. Another Councilman, Martin Small, was aquitted.

What if Bill Gormley decided to move into Atlantic City and run for Mayor? 

Legend has it that many State Senators view themselves as gubernatorial material, but historically incumbent New Jersey legislators are often unsuccessful in their campaigns for Governor. Over the last fifty years, only four incumbent legislators -- State Senators Malcolm Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) -- have won gubernatorial primaries, and all four have lost their general elections. The last time someone went directly from the Legislature to Governor was in 1928, when Morgan Larson, a Republican State Senator from Middlesex County, won. No incumbent member of the New Jersey State Assembly has ever been elected Governor.

Assemblyman Jim Whelan, the former Mayor of Atlantic City, is challenging incumbent Sonny McCullough for a State Senate seat the GOP has held since 1982

Put a bunch of Irish politicians in the same party and what you’ve got is an old Hudson County primary, but put them in opposing parties, add gambling, boxing and war-time middle class angst to the mix, and you’ll find them down in present day Atlantic County, throwing punches long before you ever have to tell them to come out swinging.

In this case it’s Senator James "Sonny" McCullough, the longtime mayor of Egg Harbor Township and a Republican, in a district 2 standoff with Assemblyman James Whelan, the former long serving mayor of Atlantic City and a Democrat.

Sonny McCullough won a special election convention for Bill Gormley's State Senate seat last February

"We build a brand new school every five years," says the 65-year old McCullough. "I tell my fellow mayors, ‘Every three years I build a neighborhood bigger than your whole town.’"

Whelan, 59, the ex-mayor of a city where the county’s most notorious industry is concentrated, has to demonstrate that he can step beyond the boundaries of Atlantic City and deliver pragmatic solutions to this tax burdened and still Republican-leaning region - even as he fights the tag of being a field hand for Camden County mega-boss George Norcross.

Republicans say the Democrats have fashioned a weak-kneed bill that does away with dual office holding but for those elected officials currently in office.

To that the Democrats have an answer: Republican State Sen. (and Egg Harbor Township Mayor) James “Sonny” McCullough, who is in a battle in the 2nd district to hold onto a seat he filled earlier this year for retired Sen. Bill Gormley.

Frank Blee, who took a beating in a Special Election Convention for State Senate yesterday, will not seek re-election to an eighth term in the State Assembly. That means the second district will have two open seats in 2007: Democrat James Whelan, the former Mayor of Atlantic City who was elected to the Assembly in 2005, is running for State Senator against the new GOP incumbent, James "Sonny" McCullough.

Some insiders say there will be pressure on Blee to resign early, as Bill Gormley did, so that Republicans will have a chance to appoint a new Assemblyman, who could seek re-election as an incumbent.

When James "Sonny" McCullough takes office tomorrow, he will become the fifth State Senator from Atlantic County in more than 65 years. The seat was held by Republican Frank Farley from 1941 to 1972, by Democrat Joseph McGahn from 1972 to 1978, by Democrat Steven Perksie from 1978 to 1982, and by Republican Bill Gormley since 1982.

Atlantic County Republicans will meet tonight to elect a new State Senator to replace Bill Gormley, who resigned last week after nearly thirty years in the Legisture. Assembly Minority Whip Frank Blee, a seven-term legislator from Absecon, faces Egg Harbor Township Mayor James "Sonny" McCullough in a contest that many observers say could be close. Gormley is backing Blee, while McCullough has the active support of Congressman Frank LoBiondo.