Democrat Maureen Rowan has won her race for the State Assembly in the 2nd legislative district, ousting two-term Republican incumbent Claire Swift (R-Margate).
Rowan unseated Swift by 842 votes, 39,444 to 38,601, in the fifth lower house pickup for Democrats.
Swift’s running mate, Assemblyman Donald Guardian (R-Atlantic City), was re-elected to a third term, albeit narrowly. A former mayor of Atlantic City, he had enough of a lead for the New Jersey Globe to call his race last week.
Guardian received 39,902 votes. The other Democratic candidate, Pleasantville Councilwoman Joanne Famularo, finished third with 39,253 — 190 votes out of second place.
“Every town in Atlantic County except three is now represented by a Democratic senator and/or a Democratic Assemblyperson. The work to get here has taken many years, and even in the last two election cycles where we were roundly defeated, we were still forging the path and building the team to set us up for this victory,” said Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman. “It is incumbent upon us to build on these successes into 2026 and beyond, and that work begins right now.”
The Atlantic County Board of Elections processed over 2,100 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots over the last two days. Roughly 55 ballots are being sent to a judge to break a deadlock between Democrats and Republicans over signatures.
Rowan will join four other Democrats who unseated GOP incumbents in last week’s election: Anthony Angelozzi (D-Hammonton), who defeated Michael Torrissi (R-Hammonton) in the 8th; Andrew Macurdy (D-Summit) and Vinnie Kearney (D-Garwood), who took out Nancy Munoz (R-Summit) and Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence) in the 21st; and Marissa Sweeney (D-Morristown), who beat Christian Barranco (R-Jefferson) in the 25th.
A retired attorney who moved from Philadelphia to Atlantic City about seven years ago, Rowan registered to vote in the state in 2021.
She becomes the first Democratic woman to ever represent Atlantic County in the legislature, and the third woman overall, following C. Delores Cooper, a Republican who held the seat from 1982 to 1992, and Swift.
The New Jersey Globe had called Guardian’s victory last week.
