National Democrats added U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s South Jersey district on Friday to a list of their target races to flip, signaling they’re taking Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock’s candidacy more seriously than before.
Van Drew has comfortably warded off challengers in recent years. He was first elected as a Democrat in 2018, but then declared his loyalty to President Donald Trump and switched parties a year later.
The designation was a long time coming for Mullock, as mail ballots have already begun to come in 32 days before the Nov. 3 election.
Still, it came as a surprise to him. He learned on Friday he made the cut at the same time everyone else did, through social media, he said.
“We may be purplish-red, but you know, we are not a just ‘go with whatever the president says’ kind of district,” Mullock said in a phone call. “We voted for Obama twice. We voted for Jeff Van Drew as a Democrat.”
Local Democrats have been optimistic that Mullock is their best shot yet at ousting Van Drew, but the race had flown under the national radar. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the party’s main campaign arm in House races, had excluded the district from its “2026 Districts in Play” map until Friday morning.
The announcement likely indicates that the national committee will send resources to Mullock’s campaign, such as staff support, but it does not come with the funding that the most competitive “Red to Blue” seats get.
Still, it serves as a nudge to donors to take the race seriously.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew speaks next to President Donald Trump at a Keep America Great campaign rally in Wildwood, NJ on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020.HEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer
Van Drew’s district was one of eight districts across the country added to the battleground list, showing that Democrats see a blue wave as increasingly likely as Trump’s popularity suffers amid the Iran war and inflation.
National Democrats are now targeting a total of 66 House races, which they say is nearly double as many as in 2024 when Republicans maintained control of the chamber.
Van Drew’s campaign spokesperson Ron Filan, in a statement, said Democrats make the race seem competitive every cycle as a “fundraising ploy,” and that Van Drew “proves them wrong” each time.
“We predicted back in June they would follow this same playbook and appreciate them proving us right,” Filan said. “The DCCC has about a third of House Republicans on one of their silly wish lists or another.”
Van Drew has been thrusting out attack ads as Mullock campaigns across the district, showing that he sees the local mayor as a threat. Filan noted that Van Drew “doesn’t take anything for granted and will continue to campaign as hard as he always has.”
Previously, the only seat in the Garden State on the DCCC’s battleground list was U.S. Rep. Tom Kean’s 7th District in Central Jersey, which is still the only oneon the “Red to Blue” list. Kean, who was absent from Congress for months without explanation until he revealed it was for depression, is viewed as highly vulnerable as Democrat Rebecca Bennett tries to oust him.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the 7th District as leaning toward Democrats, but Van Drew’s “solidly Republican” seat will be a more difficult challenge to flip.
The Cape May lawmaker’s closest challenge was in 2020 from Amy Kennedy, who still fell nearly 6 points behind him. He was reelected in 2022 by 19 points and in 2024 by 17 points.
National Republicans cite a double-digit win for Trump in the district in 2024, but Democrats note Gov. Mikie Sherrill came within single digits of her Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli in the district last year as she reversed red shifts in the state while consistently attacking Trump.
Mullock said he thinks constituents are becoming disillusioned about Van Drew’s support of Trump.
“I think people are realizing what I realized … I thought Jeff was a moderate Democrat that became a moderate Republican, and that is just not what he has become,” the Democrat said.
The 2nd Congressional District spans several South Jersey counties, extending from the Jersey Shore to rural farmland and the Philadelphia suburbs.
DCCC chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement that voters will send Van Drew “packing” because he “prioritizes tax breaks for the wealthiest few while gutting healthcare and raising costs for his constituents.”
The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), meanwhile, is focused on defending Kean’s district, the only Jersey seat on its “Patriots” list.
NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said in a statement that “Democrats are living in a fantasy.”
“New Jersey families know Jeff Van Drew delivers results, they trust him, and they’ll proudly reelect him in November,” she said.
The temperature was in the low 70s with a light breeze and clear skies. It was perfect boating weather. A group of students from Philadelphia’s Maritime Academy were excited to paddle out onto the Cooper River.
But Don Baugh from the Upstream Alliance had to cancel the trip. The water was still too dirty from the weekend’s heavy rain, which can cause sewage to spit out into the river from old pipes in Camden.
“Our goal is that we don’t have to cancel at all … we’d be able to say anybody can recreate, play, swim, on this water 365 days of the year, whether it rained or not,” Baugh said from his motorboat on Tuesday, surrounded by greenery and mud-colored water.
That is why Baugh hopes voters will support a ballot referendum in Camden County that would increase the open space tax by one cent per $100 of property owned. That one-cent increase would go toward the county’s ambitious plan to rehabilitate its sewers and waterways through a multifaceted initiative that is slated to cost about $400 million across the next 10 years. It has become more urgent, county officials say, as powerful storms and flooding become more commonplace due to climate change.
The nonprofit Upstream Alliance provides free kayaking to the public, but the organization has had to cancel about 20% of its programming due to concerns about water cleanliness, Baugh said. His rule of thumb is to wait 48 hours after half an inch of rain falls before allowing people in the water, so the bacteria from the sewage can die. But even that was not enough time following the weekend’s storm.
Put frankly, the water still looked “yucky,” Baugh said, so he was not going to expose people to it.
Olivia Liu with Upstream Alliance on the Cooper River in Camden County on Tuesday. A tax increase ballot referendum would fund projects like sewer rehabilitations aimed at improving the county’s waterways.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
What is the referendum?
Camden County voters have already been receiving their mail ballots for the Nov. 3 election. One of the decisions they face is whether to raise the county’s open space tax by one cent — bringing it to $0.03 per $100 of assessed property value. If it passes, the tax will still be one cent lower than in neighboring Burlington and Gloucester Counties.
This means that someone with property assessed at $500,000 would pay $150 a year toward open space, up from $100 at the current $0.02 rate.
The county’s open space tax is used to preserve parks, farmland, and historic sites. But the one-cent increase would be dedicated to the county’s $400 million clean water plan, which includes sewer repairs along the Cooper River, green infrastructure, dredging in local lakes, and recreation programs.
“The county is making a very bold step doing this now, and, frankly, nobody wants a tax, right? But everybody wants a higher quality of life,” Baugh said. “Everybody wants a safe and clean environment today and for tomorrow.”
Scott Schreiber, the executive director of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) —the entity overseeing the project — believes the county could raise about $7 million from the tax increase, which could result in approximately $100 million worth of project funding through the New Jersey Water Bank, which offers the entity very low interest rates and principal forgiveness.
The existing user rate that residents pay to the CCMUA will go toward the projects, Schreiber said, and the county will also seek out funds from the state and federal governments, as well as philanthropies.
“It’s not one entity that can fix this,” Schreiber said. “This is going to take a combination of local government, state, federal government, advocacy groups, and the regular public to make this work. Without that combination of people and funding, it’s going to be really impossible to fix any of this stuff.”
Here is what the $400 million effort, which the tax increase would go toward funding, entails.
A combined sewer overflow site during low tide on Tuesday. This 60-inch discharge pipe spits out untreated wastewater and stormwater during heavy rain events, which flow directly into the back channel of the Delaware River.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The sewer problem
The cities of Camden and Gloucester have an antiquated sewage system that combines stormwater and sewage in the same pipes. The pipes are designed to carry the combined liquid to the wastewater treatment plant, but when there is heavy rain, they can overflow and the contaminated water spits into the Cooper and Delaware Rivers. The overflow from the combined pipes can cause flooding — and then residents are subjected to sewage-infested waters in their streets and homes.
“These are the old stone pipes that were built before the current technology,” Camden County Commissioner Jeffrey Nash said.
“But as both cities grew, and the storms have become more violent, and rain has become more excessive … flooding has been a large problem,” he added.
On top of the risks to humans, the nutrients from the human waste are harmful for aquatic life.
There are 30 combined sewage overflow spots in the two cities, Schreiber said, that dump waste into the river when there is heavy rain and the system cannot handle it. Just one of the larger combined pipes pours out about 200 million gallons of sewage-filled water a year, he said, and the two cities dump out about 800 million gallons on average altogether.
The county wants to spend $200 million to upgrade this system.
The rest of the county has separate stormwater and sewage pipes, but they still need to be maintained. Leaky pipes can also cause sewage to spill into the river.
The county plans to spend about $50 million for the rehabilitation of these sewer systems across multiple municipalities. The county has already begun the design process for lining some of these pipes, Schreiber said.
The bottom line is, the Cooper River — which runs from Gibbsboro and Voorhees out to the Delaware River — does not meet state and federal water quality standards, he said, so the county is taking a “holistic approach” to fix the waterway that flows through multiple municipalities.
Wildlife along the back channel of the Delaware River near the Cooper River on Tuesday.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Green infrastructure
The plan also includes $25 million for green infrastructure, like rain gardens or bioswales, which are typically sloped channels covered with vegetation.
Green infrastructure gets water directly into the ground, which helps with flooding and decreases the amount of water going through the pipes to the treatment plant, overall alleviating the system. This infrastructure, however, requires expensive and ongoing maintenance, Schreiber said.
“The more that you contain the water on the land, the better it is for the water,” Baugh said.
Dredging
The project also includes $75 million for dredging and other methods of removing sediment from public waterways. This sediment includes toxins that end up in the water from residential and business areas, and if it is not removed, waterways can become defunct. It is part of what makes Camden County’s waterways brown after heavy rain, because “a lot of not-good stuff on the bottom” gets stirred up, Schreiber said.
“We really want to make sure that we’re taking that sediment out, so that even if it does get disturbed and move, it’s moving clean sediment and not polluting or contaminating,” he added.
Cleaning up Evans Pond and Wallworth Lake, Cooper River Lake, and Kirkwood Lake are priorities for the county.
Newton Lake Park, which runs through Haddon Township, Collingswood, and Oaklyn, finished a two-year, $23 million dredging process in 2023 that rehabilitated the lake after it became clogged. And just on Tuesday, the county unveiled the results of a $1.3 million project to improve fishing piers at the rejuvenated lake.
Don Baugh, president and founder of Upstream Alliance is on the Delaware River on Tuesday with Scott Schreiber (right), executive director of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, looking at sewage runoff from Camden’s waterways.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Parts of Camden’s waterways are littered with lead and arsenic that was used in apple orchards decades ago in places like Cherry Hill and Voorhees, as well as toxins from the Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek Superfund site, the location of a former paint manufacturer in Gibbsboro.
Recreation
Baugh said local families who do not have experience on the water and might not know how to swim show up to his free Saturday kayaking program disappointed that they cannot go out on a nice day. As the county gradually addresses its sewage issues, he expects to feel better putting people out on the water under his 48-hour rule and one day get rid of it completely.
And the county’s plan would give more options for residents to enjoy their local waters, with $50 million allocated to restoring recreational lake areas. This effort aims to bring more fishing piers, kayak rentals, boat launches, and water trail systems, Schreiber said. The county is prioritizing rehabilitating Atco Lake, Lake Worth, and Audubon Lake, according to its planning document.
Nash described exploring the county’s urban waterways as a “great thrill.” He wants more residents in Camden to enjoy it, too.
Each of the plan’s components has distinct advantages, but taken together their benefits amplify, Schreiber said.
“And if you do that holistically from the top of the county all the way down, you’re going to have a much more clean and friendly park system and river water system,” he added.
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell has resignedafter investigators found “credible evidence” of sexual harassment and other wrongdoing.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced his resignation at a news conference Friday afternoon after calling for him to step down while releasing the investigative report Thursday evening.
“His decision will allow us to move forward with important work serving the people of our state,” saidSherrill, who was inaugurated with Caldwell by her side in January.
“I will move swiftly and thoughtfully in choosing a new lieutenant governor who will represent my administration and the people of New Jersey with honor and integrity.”
The governor released a 61-page report from a monthlong investigation conducted by an outside law firm late Thursday afternoon. The report said Caldwell made inappropriate comments to women and violated ethics rules. Caldwell, a minister, is the former president of Centenary University.
Sherrill called for him to resign by Friday, but it was unclear whether he would listen. Caldwell denied the investigation’s findings through his attorney, who argued Caldwell was not given an opportunity to meaningfully address the accusations in the report or provide his own witnesses.
Sherrill emphasized Friday that she wanted to “make sure everyone was treated fairly and justly” and called the investigation thorough and impartial.
“After I received the report and the facts were clear, I took action right away,” Sherrill said, in what may have been a nod to earlier criticism that she didn’t confirm the investigation while it was underway. “Let me be clear: all credible allegations of misconduct must be fully investigated and addressed. In my administration, we are committed to doing what is right, not what is politically expedient.”
The investigation found Caldwell hit on a female staffer’s friend, and when she turned him down, he told the staffer that ambitious women like them needed a man in a position to help them, “but you young women are looking for young sperm.”
Caldwell denied making the comments, “but we did not find his denial credible,” the report said.
Replacing Caldwell
Sherrill did not have the power to fire Caldwell, so his resignation prevents potential impeachment proceedings in Trenton. The governor has 45 days to pick his replacement.
In the meantime, New Jersey Senate President Nicholas Scutari will lead the state in her absence. Sherrill traveled to campaign for Democrats in congressional races in other states earlier in the summer, leaving Caldwell in charge. But she stopped after the investigation became public knowledge.
Sherrill said she spoke to Caldwell on Thursday and texted with him on Friday, and that he resigned to let her administration continue with its agenda amid “all of the attacks from the federal government on affordability, voting rights.”
Caldwell’s attorney, Thomas Calcagni, said in a statement late Friday that his client continues to dispute the allegations in the report and would be exploring “all legal remedies” to contest its findings.
“We continue to forcefully challenge the report. Dr. Caldwell’s resignation, submitted to put an end to the targeted campaign to discredit his character, does not in any way diminish our outrage concerning the investigative process and its specious findings,” Calcagni said.
As fragments of the allegations leaked out over the weeks, some of Caldwell’s friends and allies shared messages of support about his character and record of service. And while he did not speak publicly as news of the investigation surfaced, a May letter he wrote to the ethics commission forcefully denying the claims — and alleging racism — was leaked to media.
On Friday, a group of self-described Black “faith, civic, and community leaders” commended his decision to resign.
“By choosing to step down and ending this controversy, he has put the interests of the people of New Jersey and the work of our state ahead of himself,” the group said in a statement, which included U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D., Mercer), New Jersey Democratic Committee Chair LeRoy Jones, among others.
Democratic state legislators remained largely quiet before Caldwell announced his resignation, but many were relieved to see Caldwell step down.
Assemblymember Anthony Angelozzi, a Burlington County Democrat, said he was “appalled” with the findings of the report.
“The idea of using your government position for personal benefit and harassing women, as someone who has staff members who are female and a daughter, I wouldn’t want to put any woman in a compromised position like that,” he said.
Assemblymember Balivir Singh floated another Burlington County Democrat, State Sen. Troy Singleton, as an ideal replacement for Caldwell.
“You look for a person with integrity … and I would think my senator is the best,” Singh said.
As lieutenant governor, Caldwell served a dual role as the state’s top election official. With his resignation less than 40 days before the midterm election, Sherrill appointed Acting Comptroller Shirley Emehelu to serve as secretary of state on an acting basis.
“For months at this point, the Department of State team has been hard at work preparing for the upcoming elections in partnership with local and county election officials. I will make sure their work proceeds as planned,” Emehelu said.
The investigation into Caldwell was conducted by former Attorney General Christopher Porrino — who worked under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie — and his law firm. The probe had been going on since at least May.
Road crews had begun removing Caldwell’s name from state signs on I-95 as of Friday, but the scandal is still likely to dominate New Jersey politics for the foreseeable future.
Christine Giordano Hanlon, chair of the New Jersey GOP, called Sherrill’s handling of the investigation a “failure.”
“Caldwell’s resignation is not accountability for everything that happened before it,” she said. “There are many more questions that will need to be answered.”
‘Long-term concerning behavior’ outlined in report
Sherrill said the report “lays out a pattern and practice of long-term concerning behavior.” She said her decision shows the “culture change” she has pushed for in Trenton.
“What was so important to me was to make sure that if there are substantiated claims of sexual harassment and ethics violations, that I, as the leader of the government, handle that,” she said.
“There has been a culture in Trenton, probably since the birth of our nation, to sweep this under the rug,” she said. “You can speak to numerous people who’ve worked in the statehouse for decades who felt this day would never come, that allegations would never be taken seriously, action would never be taken, and victims would just have to either quit their job or move on.”
According to the report, less than a month after being spoken to and given training on workplace conduct and ethics, and four days after he was told about the investigation, Caldwell tried to get a promotion for a state employee he was dating.
Caldwell’s attorney said the lieutenant governor forwarded the employee’s resume and did not disclose the two had a personal relationship.
The report also details comments Caldwell allegedly made about wanting a “first lady.” One staffer said he asked her to find him someone and another recalled him suggesting that he would need a wife in order to run for governor and to let him know if she comes across someone suitable. Caldwell admitted to making comments to staffers about wanting a “first lady” but said he wasn’t serious and other people in the office made similar kinds of jokes, the report said.
He also repeatedly made comments about staffers having “executive appearance,” which came across to some staffers as a judgment on women’s physical attractiveness. Caldwell said the term was about how both men and women carry themselves, not physical appearance, the report said.
Caldwell repeatedly brought personal guests to ticketed events without clearing it with the ethics officer and without paying for the extra tickets, a practice that continued even after warnings, attending an ethics training, and being told about the investigation, the report said. His attorney said when Caldwell “learned that reimbursement was appropriate in one particular situation, he reimbursed $175 for the event.”
He was also accused of providing his business card to women he wanted to date, but he said in his May letter that he gives his business card to more men than women.
“I have never asked anyone out on a date, ‘hit on,’ or pursued anyone romantically while conducting official business as Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State,” he said at the time.
Staff writers Susan K. Livio, Sarah Nicell, and Lacey Latch contributed reporting.
New Jersey’s two senators in Washington echoed Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s call for Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell to resign just hours after she released a report that said he sexually harassed a woman and made advances to others even after he was warned to stop.
Sen. Andy Kim, a Burlington County Democrat, said in a statement on social media that the lieutenant’s governor was “unacceptable” based on the findings in the 61-page report based on a months-long investigation by an outside law firm.
“New Jerseyans deserve to have public servants who work to earn and keep their trust, not undermine it,” Kim said.
“The Lt. Governor should resign immediately,” he added.
Sherrill’s office released the documents Thursday evening in her first acknowledgement of the investigation into Caldwell, who has denied the findings of the report.
Sherrill said Caldwell “engaged in serious, repeated violations of state policy and failed to uphold the responsibilities of his office.”
The governor called on Caldwell to step down from his post as her No. 2 by Friday, but statements from his attorneys show no indication he plans to adhere to that request. He’ll likely face increasing pressure over the course of the day.
USE AS DESIRED: U.S. Sen. Cory Booker addresses members of the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey in Mt.Laurel Aug. 29, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Sen. Cory Booker, a Newark Democrat, said Caldwell should resign “for the sake of our state” in a statement on social media.
“Governor Sherrill is absolutely right the conduct described in the investigative report is totally unacceptable,” he said.
A former South Jersey Transportation Authority commissioner and Philadelphia union leader accused by a New Jersey grand jury of using public office to retaliate against a political foe enteredaguilty plea deal Wednesday that will likely keep him out of prison.
The grand jury last year indicted Bryan Bush and Christopher Milam, a current SJTA commissioner and former vice chair, on six counts of conspiracy, official misconduct, and perjury.
Prosecutors accused the two Gloucester County men of conspiring in 2023 to deny payment to a contractor that had allegedly fallen out of favor with George E. Norcross III, a Democratic South Jersey powerbroker, and with lying to a grand jury about their reasons for rejecting payments.
Bush, who was represented by Robert Agre of Agre & St. John in Haddonfield, pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction in the fourth degree — and agreed not to hold public employment. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges and recommended probation. He agreed to comply with conditions in a Sept. 17 letter from the state, which prosecutors did not make available on Wednesday.
Milam, whose term as commissioner officially ended earlierthis year, rejected prosecutors’ offer. His attorney, Charles Fiore of Charles Fiore Law Offices in Williamstown, is seeking Pretrial Intervention (PTI), a program that can help first-time offenders get charges dropped by “gaining skills to straighten out personal problems in order to avoid future arrests,” according to the New Jersey Courts website. He appeared in court remotely on Zoom.
Obstructing the administration of law has a maximum sentence of 18 months in state prison, Judge Donna Taylor said in court. Taylor rejected a motion to dismiss the case in early July.
In court, Bush admitted withholding information from prosecutorsthat would havehelped the investigation intothe nonpayment of money to T&M Associates, a Middletown, N.J.-based engineering firm, for itscontract with the SJTA.
Bush told The Inquirer he will keep his job as the business manager of Sheet Metal Workers Local 19, an influential union in Philadelphia.
“I’m just trusting my attorney’s judgment on all of this,” Bush told The Inquirer on his way out of the courtroom at Atlantic County Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Dan Prochilo, a spokesperson for Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, who inherited the case from former Attorney General Matthew Platkin, said Wednesday that the office “is committed to investigating and fighting for accountability in any case where public officials abuse their positions of public trust.”
Davenport did not pursue Platkin’s case against Norcross, declining to appeal a court ruling that dismissed it.
‘Political suicide’
Milam’s lawyer argued that the case centers on Norcross — though he is not a defendant — and that prosecutors used it to strengthen their separate case against him,according to court documents. Henoted that the power broker was mentioned 50 times during the grand jury presentation.
When asked to comment on Bush’s plea, Dan Fee, a spokesperson for Norcross, criticized the former attorney general. Platkin, he said, “tried to pin something on George that just wasn’t true.”
According to court documents, John Cimino, head of T&M Associates, got on Norcross’ bad side after endorsing a different candidate than Norcross directed in a Democratic primary for Mercer County executive. Norcross subsequently said Cimino committed “political suicide” and was off his “Christmas card list,” according to the documents.
Norcross’ firm dropped T&M as a client and his longtime political consultant resigned from T&M, according to the documents. Milam and Bush entered the picture because, as SJTA commissioners, they voted against payments for work done by T&M for the agency at three separate meetings.
Detectives discovered texts from Milam to Bush saying he planned to vote against T&M because “they cut South Jersey in Mercer County,” and Bush said he would vote no, too. The commissioners eventually approved the invoices after they were directed to do so by SJTA Director Stephen Dougherty, according to the court record.
Milam’s term technically expired in May, but he remains a commissioner until Gov. Mikie Sherrill makes an appointment, SJTA spokesperson David Zappariello said. He declined to comment on the case.
The SJTA oversees the Atlantic City Expressway and Atlantic City International Airport. It also works on transit efforts across South Jersey, such as the new South Jersey Connectsbus system.
South Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew tried to ramp up pressure on Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill over the state’s noncitizen voter registrations at a Tuesday hearing in Washington, which did not feature testimony from anyone in Sherrill’s administration.
“Whose side is New Jersey government on?” Van Drew said early in the congressional hearing as he airedgrievances about Sherrill and the state’s immigration policies. “That’s the question hanging over this entire hearing.”
None of the witnesses at the hearing were employees of New Jersey or IDEMIA, the software vendor which Sherrill has blamed for the issue, a point disputed by the company. Van Drew defended IDEMIA at the hearing and said the company is cooperating with his probe.
As he chaired the hearing, Van Drew repeatedly accused the state of New Jersey of knowing about the noncitizen registration issue since 2024.
“In political terms, that’s called a cover-up,” he said.
Van Drew, the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, has been a thorn in Sherrill’s side since she announced in July that about 6,600 noncitizens had been registered to vote due to an issue with the software used for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s (MVC) voter registration program under former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
Tuesday’s hearing came the day after the Supreme Court rejected President DonaldTrump’s mail ballot restrictions, allowing states to continue sending ballots under the same processes they have been using for years. Van Drew has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s efforts to overhaul national elections, including passing legislation to require proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or passport, to register to vote.
Three witnesses, including the former chief counsel of the Republican National Committee, advocated for stricter rules around voting. A fourth witness,a former election official fromArizona, said the issue of noncitizen voter registration is incredibly rare.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew and President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, shortly after Van Drew switched parties.Heather Khalifa / MCT
Van Drew claims state knew of problem sooner
IDEMIA confirmed after the hearing that the company had met with staff from Van Drew’s office and “will continue to cooperate with congressional and state investigations to help ensure a complete and accurate understanding of the facts.”
Van Drew contended that internal documents show the state government had “tested and approved” the software that led to the improperregistrations.
“We also know that in 2024, IDEMIA received a request from New Jersey after the state finally realized that noncitizens were being registered to vote,” the Cape May County lawmaker said.
Van Drew spokesperson Paxton Antonucci told The Inquirer on Tuesday evening that the documents showed that New Jersey reached out to IDEMIA in June 2024 after noticing individuals who were registered to vote had missing information on their age and party affiliation. She said that information was missing because the software failed to flag thatthe group of individuals had selected they were not citizens, but were still allowed to registered to vote.
“The committee is working with IDEMIA to obtain additional information on how this was allowed to happen, and we are seeking documents from New Jersey as to why this error was never disclosed to the public prior to 2026,” she said.
Sherrill spokesperson Darwin Pham said the governor’s office “can’t speak” for the prior administration. Mahen Gunaratna, Murphy’s spokesperson, pointed to a previous statement on Tuesday that said Murphy “had no knowledge” of the issue and applauded Sherrill for investigating it.
Pham said in a statement Tuesday that congressionalRepublicans are weaponizing the issue “to advance Trump’s voter suppression agenda” while the governor “is focused on continuing to solve the problem she inherited from the previous administration.” He called the hearing “political theater.” Sherrill hired an independent firm to conduct an investigation that is ongoing. She said she will present the findings to the public.
Sherrill’s administration said earlier this summer that the state had removed roughly 4,000 voters from the rolls and left the rest to county election officials to verify whether they were citizens or not. Locally, Burlington and Camden Counties confirmed removing noncitizens from the rolls but did not specify a number.
Sherrill’s administration said fewer than400 of the noncitizens voted but did not affect the results of an election. Van Drew pushed back against this assertion on Tuesday, saying he still does not know the details of which elections these noncitizens voted in.
“Anybody knows if you follow local elections, they can be a handful of votes very often. It can even happen in Congress,” said Van Drew, who was elected as a Democrat in 2018 before declaring his loyalty to President Donald Trump and switching parties a year later. This November, he will face Democrat Zack Mullock, the Cape May mayor, at the ballot box.
Van Drew said that Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, the secretary of state, has been “somewhat cooperative” but that the state has broadly “done everything it can to not cooperate and stonewall the investigation.”
A Sherrill official said Tuesday her administration had provided the committee with public documents.Thegovernor haspledged to protect New Jerseyans’ data, and her administration has been in a legal battle with the Trump administration over providing the personal information of noncitizens.
At the hearing,Van Drew referred to Caldwell being under investigation without going into details.Sherrill has touted her transparency in disclosing the noncitizen voter registrations, but she has been criticized by some in her party for staying tight-lipped about a reported investigation into Caldwell and his alleged behavior with women.
Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell (left) follows Gov. Mikie Sherrill off the stage following the celebration of their victory at an election night party in East Brunswick Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Noncitizens removed from voter rolls in Burlington and Camden Counties
David Levinsky, a spokesperson for Burlington County, confirmed some ineligible voters were removed from the rolls in the South Jersey county but deferred to the state on specific numbers.
“The [Burlington County] Superintendent of Elections Office continues to follow all relevant state laws and guidance to ensure that all residents who register to vote are eligible,” he said.
Camden County spokesperson Dan Keashen also confirmed that the county received a list of voters to investigate. The rolls are up to date after noncitizens were removed, he said.
Stephanie Salvatore, the Gloucester County superintendent of elections, said Tuesday that the county had not been notified of any questionable voters due to the MVC issues from the state.
Salvatore, who has been in the election office for more thanthree decades, said the issue had come up “a handful of times” before.
“I have police powers over elections, and an investigator assigned full-time. We work closely with many agencies, including the FBI, the state police, the county prosecutor, among other agencies,” she said. “If I cannot verify the voter eligibility in question within my office, I send it to the professionals and/or the courts to decide.”
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, speaks during a hearing on New Jersey noncitizen voter registrations. House Judiciary Subcommittee video
‘Worst-case scenario’
Stephen Richer, a legal fellow withthe libertarian Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies,was the one witness who strayed from Van Drew’s position on noncitizen voting. Richer, who previously served as a Republican responsible for voter registration in Maricopa County, Ariz., cited as an example an audit in Utah, which found that 0.001% of voters were noncitizens. He said New Jersey’s case is the worst he has seen.
“Even in this scenario, this worst-case scenario, noncitizens made up a fraction of a percent of voters,” he said.
Josh Findlay, a senior fellow for election integrity policy at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, argued that every noncitizen vote cancels out a citizen’s vote.
“The default should be that voters must verify their eligibility before being added to lists, not that people are added to lists and then we hope that the state catches them,” he said. “Even small numbers matter.”
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat and ranking member of the subcommittee, called Trump “the biggest threat to democracy,” pushing back on the GOP messaging.
Van Drew contended that pressure from the federal government led to the noncitizen voterrevelation, but U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, emphasized that the error was discovered and disclosed by New Jersey itself.
“No matter how much our colleagues seek to inflate it, a clerical error is not structural corruption, much less is it a criminal conspiracy,” said Raskin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. “It does not rise to the level of, say, a violent insurrection deliberately incited and organized to overthrow a completed presidential election.”
Two New Jersey Congress members appeared alongside EMR’sCEO on Thursday to call for more oversight on lithium-ion batteries, which the company blames for causing fires at its Camden scrap metal site.
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, a Camden Democrat, introduced the Battery Fire Prevention Act nearly a year ago, inspired by fires at the Camden facility. But it hasn’t made progress in the Republican-dominated Congress. He toured the EMR site Thursday with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., of Monmouth County, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“Today it’s Camden. Yesterday was North Carolina and Minnesota. It’s literally all 50 states and quite frankly, a global problem,” Norcross said of lithium-ion battery fires.
“The United States Congress has failed in this,” he added. “When we understand that China is more progressive in finding batteries in their waste streams, you know we have a big problem.”
Standing in front of gigantic piles of old household appliances, damaged cars, and other kinds of scrap metal with a view of the Philadelphia skyline, Norcross said his bill will advance once Pallone becomes committee chair in the coming months — if Democrats win back the House in this year’s midterm elections.
The bill would create a 30% tax credit for waste and recycling companies to purchase technology to help identify lithium-ion batteries and a 5% tax on the sale of lithium-ion batteries. It would also direct the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a battery buyback program. Using money from the battery tax, the program would award grants to facilities — like schools, local governments, or recycling plants — to collect batteries from consumers, who would get paid for returning their batteries. Those batteries would then be properly disposed of or recycled.
EMR’s machinery separates and shreds large pieces of metal and spits them out into new piles of knuckle-sized scrap. Lithium-ion batteries, which are found in everyday technology like phones, watches, and e-bikes, aren’t supposed to land at the site but end up in the waste streams anyway.
A crane at the EMR scrap metal shredding site in Camden on Thursday.Aliya Schneider / Staff
Joe Balzano, the CEO of EMR Metal Recycling USA, said that the company has mechanisms to detect batteries that are about to burst, but the technology that identifies the batteries in the first place that he could apply at his site hasn’t been invented yet. Instead, employees sort through objects and set aside items that could have the batteries, which are prone to catching on fire if they become damaged or overheated. Those fires can spew out of control when hidden in a giant pile of metal.
Norcross said research to solve this problem is currently underway.
“Necessity is the mother of invention, so I’m hoping that invention comes quick,” Balzano said in an interview.
While suppliers and workers have gotten better at detecting items with the batteries, “things that didn’t have a battery yesterday have a battery today,” he said.
Part of the issue is there isn’t an obvious way for consumers to easily dispose of these batteries, so they end up in the trash or on the curbs, he said.
“They get picked up by peddler scrappers, or they enter into the municipality waste streams, and then they make themselves through the recycling process, and they come here,” Balzano said.
Frustrated residents who have suffered the impacts of repeated fires at the site have called for the closing of EMR in Camden. The facility temporarily shuttered earlier this summer and the company entered a legal battle with the city before a judge allowed the site to reopen.
Norcross, who appeared alongside Balzano on Thursday, said shutting down EMR in Camden won’t solve the core problem.
“If this disappears tomorrow, it goes to the next community, and then they’ll be fighting the same thing,” Norcross said in an interview. “So we want to fix the problem before it turns into a fire.”
Pallone said another bill in his committee that would create federal waste rules for recycling lithium-ion batteries has bipartisan support. He said seeing the site firsthand helped him understand the issue.
“The batteries come here, they’re essentially coming in secret,” he said.
Norcross pointed a finger at the corporations that manufacture the batteries for not taking a proactive role in preventing improper disposal.
“The manufacturers of batteries can’t walk away from the problem of just selling their product, and it ends up wherever it does, causing fires,” the lawmaker said.
Democratic leaders in New Jersey learned Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell was under investigation for alleged inappropriate behavior with women at the same time the public did — from a news report just before Labor Day weekend.
And still it took nearly a week before Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill finallytook questions from reporters Wednesday on what has reportedly been a monthslong investigation by an outside law firm.
But even then she refused to confirm an investigation into her lieutenant governor or even refer to him by name. It was unlikely to relieve the growing concerns of many in her party.
New Jersey Democratic Party leaders, frustrated by her decision to hide the matter from them, had privately urged Sherrill to share what she could ahead of Wednesday’s event, rather than let Republicans calling for Caldwell’s resignation dominate the headlines.
After this pressure, her team announced the governor would take questions from the media during a visit to a Woodbridge pizza shop Wednesday evening, her first public event since the news broke Friday.
But she offered no new details in her answers.
“I’m not going to confirm or deny whether there is an ongoing investigation, but what I can commit to people is that any complaints are taken very seriously and certainly anyone who has a complaint lodged against them, their rights are protected and they will have a full hearing,” Sherrill told more than 15 members of the media gathered outside Pino’s Pizzeria & Restaurant in Woodbridge.
She declined to answer when the complaint against Caldwell was filed or whether she had curtailed any of his responsibilities, including whether he would act on her behalf when she traveled out of state.
A Democratic operative who requested anonymity to speak freely about private conversations with legislators said Sherrill has put her allies in a tough position where they feel obligated to weigh in but do not know enough to make a public statement.
“Legislators are pissed off about this,” the operative said earlier Wednesday. “They feel left in the dark, and they feel like they’re put in a weird place.”
The operative said it feels as if Sherrill and Caldwell, who are both Trenton newcomers, have been on their own “island.”
Sherrill on Tuesday released her first comment on the matter, which did not acknowledge the existence of the investigation or name her lieutenant governor. In vague terms, she said she demands members of her administration “hold themselves to the highest standards and put their obligations to public service first.”
‘The sooner, the better’
New Jersey political operatives questioned why Sherrill did not address the investigation earlier, or by addressing it head-on with a news conference, as she did earlier in the summer when her administration discovered that thousands of noncitizens had been registered to vote during her predecessor’s administration.The governor has touted herself as prioritizing transparency and accountability.
“If I were the press secretary in that administration, I would have urged a Friday statement, the sooner the better,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, who worked as former Gov. Jim McGreevey’s press secretary.
“By not doing that, you really do raise suspicions … whereas if you can tamp that down and say, ‘Here’s what we know, here’s what we’re waiting for, here’s what you’re going to know,’ that can put everything into perspective.”
Former State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat from Bergen County, said Wednesday that she has faith in Sherrill’s nascent administration, but that it was time for the governor to personally address the investigation — the details of which have been leaked in media reports.
“I think that has been too long for what obviously began in May and has not yet come to fruition. What is taking so long?” said Weinberg, who served as Senate majority leader and made combating sexual harassment and violence a cornerstone of her long legislative career.
“When you have an unwillingness to talk, the rumor mill fills in the gaps. That’s not good for transparency,” she said.
Sherrill spokesperson Sean Higgins declined to comment on the criticism from other Democrats outside the pizza event Wednesday evening.
BINJE.com reported Wednesday that Caldwell denied allegations of misconduct toward women in a May 28 letter to Christina Fullam, the state’s chief ethics officer. He said it was “personally painful for someone to attempt to damage my reputation and slander my character with false and misleading accusations” and suggested race was involved.
“While I am troubled by this accusation, as the first single Black man to serve at this level in government, I suspect that there will be other false accusations or rumors in the future,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, in this current political environment, false accusations, especially against people of color, seem to be commonplace.”
Sherrill has garnered national attention for her decisive win last year and outspoken criticism of President DonaldTrump. She has also been supporting Democrats in other states ahead of this year’s midterms, making appearances for candidates in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which has fueled speculation about national ambitions.
But the investigation into Caldwell and widespread media coverage could complicate her rise.
“This isn’t going away until [Sherrill and her team provide] answers,” said a Sherrill adviser, who was not authorized to speak about the matter and did so on condition of anonymity. “If they do not handle this now, it will metastasize and burst those bubbles of being on the national stage.”
Some party operatives have even begun mulling who might replace Caldwell, the adviser said.
Acting governor when Sherrill travels out of state
Caldwell served as acting governor while Sherrill was out of state on more than half a dozen days in July and August, with no opportunities for the media to ask him questions. His public schedule included appearances at a United Airlines event in Newark, a tennis event in Paterson, and a Puerto Rican Festival in Vineland.
But the role of acting governor is not just attending community events and photo ops. The position takes on all the responsibilities of governor, and choosing Caldwell as her running mate was a personal judgment call for Sherrill.
“It’s a big power to be governor — you have clemency powers,” noted one Democratic political insider who requested anonymity to speak freely, questioning why Caldwell was left to run the state while under investigation.
Assembly member Alex Sauickie, an Ocean County Republican, on Tuesday called on Sherrill to stop traveling out of state while Caldwell is the subject of investigation.
“This is no longer simply about the governor leaving New Jersey to campaign for politicians in other states or build her national political profile. This is now about who is actually in charge of our state when she leaves,” he said in a statement.
Some Democrats watching the controversy around Caldwell unfold have cited other issues that concern them with Sherrill’s administration, such as the New Jersey State Police’s aggressive response to protesters outside the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, and major companies leaving the state, the Sherrill adviser said. They pointed to this episode as another example of Sherrill and her team operating without communication or input from other elected officials.
Only acouple ofDemocratic legislators have publicly commented on the news.
Assembly member Katie Brennan (D., Hudson), who accused a senior campaign adviser to former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of sexual assault in 2017, released a statement Tuesday calling the allegations serious. She used the opportunity to promote legislation that she said would “set clear standards” for how complaints are handled.
On Wednesday, State Sen. Britnee Timberlake (D., Essex) defended Sherrill’s handling of the investigation and criticized Republicans’ “selective outrage,” the New Jersey Globe reported.
Rasmussen noted that he has not seen anyone come to Caldwell’s defense in Trenton.
“Maybe he doesn’t have those people in Trenton. He was picked primarily because he was an outsider,” he said.
Another Democratic leader, who requested anonymity to speak freely and not alienate the administration, expressed disappointment that it took so long for Sherrill’s administration to acknowledge the investigation but said Caldwell deserves to have judgment wait until the investigation is complete.
“He’s played the role this administration has asked of him, advancing the governor’s agenda. He has been visible. I truly believe they have a good partnership. Everyone should have the presumption of innocence,” the leader said.
“But it’s fair to say all of us were pretty shocked when we saw the accounts. It is my hope the governor and the investigations will be completely transparent.”
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill broke her silence Tuesday on a reported investigation into Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, but the governor offered little information on the matter and did not mention her No. 2 by name.
“Public service is an honor. And I have spent a lifetime of service in the Navy, as a prosecutor, in Congress, and now as Governor,” Sherrill, a first-term Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “I know that jobs of public trust impact the lives of everyday people and I deeply respect the oaths and responsibilities of these positions.
“Because of this respect, I demand that everyone in my administration hold themselves to the highest standards and put their obligations to public service first.”
Her statement comes four days after the New Jersey Globe reported that Caldwell is under internal investigation for allegations of inappropriate behavior with women and possible ethics violations, including an offer of state jobs.
Sean Higgins, a spokesperson for Sherrill, said Friday the administration could not “confirm or deny potential personnel matters.”
New Jersey GOP chair Christine Giordano Hanlon this weekend criticized the administration’s framing of the situation as“an effort to shield the information from the public” and called on Caldwell to resign.
“The governor and lieutenant governor should not be considered ‘personnel’ — they are the highest level elected officials in the state and must be held to the highest standard of accountability and transparency,” Hanlon said.
Sherrill’s Tuesday statement did not mention any specific investigation or individuals.
“I take my responsibility to treat any reports of inappropriate behavior or misconduct extremely seriously, and any credible report must be fully examined and addressed. If the evidence warrants, I will take appropriate action quickly,” Sherrill said.
The investigation had already begun when Caldwell worked as acting governor while Sherrill was out of state last week, the New Jersey Globe reported. BINJE.com reported that the investigation has been underway for months.
Christopher Porrino, who served as attorney general under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, is conducting the investigation into Caldwell, the Globe reported.
Sherrill noted in her statement that anyone with a complaint “will receive a fair and thorough review” and be safe from retaliation.
“Let me be clear,” she said, “I do not back down from tough fights or tough conversations, and I will always put the interests of New Jerseyans first.”
Assembly member Katie Brennan (D., Hudson) released a statement Tuesday calling the allegations serious.
“Anyone who uses the power of public office to mistreat the people around them has no business holding it,” she said. “Governor Sherrill moved quickly here, and I’m glad she did, but survivors shouldn’t have to hope that the people in charge will do the right thing.”
Brennan was a campaign volunteer for former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2017 primary election campaign who said after Murphy took office that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior campaign adviser.
Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. But Brennan’s decision to publicize the alleged assault and the administration’s failure to investigate her claims led to changes in state law on how victims are treated by law enforcement. She said in her statement Tuesday that she will push for bills to protect sexual assault survivors.
Caldwell has yet to publicly address the matter, and his office declined to comment Tuesday.
Sherrill chose Caldwell to be her lieutenant governor after her primary win last summer. Caldwell, who was the first Black president of Centenary University, is a pastor in the United Methodist Church. He has experience working in state government, starting nonprofits, leading charter schools, and serving on the New Brunswick school board.
Sherrill praised him as a “voice for the voiceless” who has followed in his parents’ footsteps when she announced him as her running mate last year. His mother was a teacher and his father, the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell, was a civil rights activist who protested alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Staff writer Susan Livio contributed to this article.
Sen. Cory Booker said the United States needs a “food revolution,”blaming sugary and processed food for contributing to the nation’s health woes during a South Jersey visit Thursday.
“What’s stupid is that we’re sitting here talking about the cost of healthcare and how to pay for it, but not why we need so much healthcare in the first place,” Booker said during an almost hour-long speech to the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey at the Westin Mount Laurel.
The speech was one of four stops Booker made in South Jersey Thursday. The Newark Democrat also packed sandwiches at the Cathedral Kitchen community kitchen in Camden,one of the nonprofits shouldering a greater demand amid rising grocery costs and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program enacted by President Donald Trump. Booker said he would try to steer federal resources to the group, and that he hopes at least one chamber of Congress will flip so Democrats can push to restore money for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Butduring his speech to the chamber, Booker signaled support for one piece of Trump’s health agenda by criticizing the use of SNAP for soda. Booker, a vegan, aligns with some of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policies on nutrition though he vehemently opposes Kennedy’s push to scale back recommended vaccines for children.
“Sugar water companies literally, annually, make billions of dollars from SNAP payments,” Booker said after joking about Coke and Pepsi not being members of the chamber. “You all know what SNAP stands for: Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Yet we allow SNAP payments to be used for that, but make it really hard for them to be used for the kind of food we want people to have abundant access [to].”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the green light to nearly two dozen states — mostly Republican — to restrict people from using food stamps for sugary drinks, the New York Times reported, though just eight were actually implemented as others are in the process or have been blocked by a court ruling.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania are not among those states.
Sen. Cory Booker speaks to members of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey at the Mt. Laurel Westin.Aliya Schneider / Staff
Booker said the country should support small farmers more, and decried that the vast majority of agricultural subsidies go to “massive commodity crops” such as corn and soybeans that are used for ultra-processed foods instead of “specialty crops” like fruits and vegetables.
The ballroom podium was unnecessary for Booker, who paced on stage and juggled a microphone between whatever hand he wasn’t reaching, pointing, or otherwise speaking with.
“Think about this: A kid in Camden goes into a bodega and gets a Twinkie product cheaper than an apple because we subsidize everything in the Twinkie product and nothing in the apple,” he said.
“Or hear this: You go to a fast food restaurant and you get a $1 meal, and if you want to get a bucket of salad, it costs you $15. How can we be a system that sustains such high levels of illness?”
He told a story about meeting with a LasVegas-based business owner whose healthcare costs decreased after replacing deep fried food options for his staff with healthier choices, and shared an anecdote about a woman whose health improved after an urban farm was established in Newark, where Booker was mayor.
In an interview after his speech, Booker said he’s pushing for the restoration of programs that connect crops from small farms with people in need of food.
“New Jersey farmers are suffering with tighter and tighter margins,” he said.
Sen. Cory Booker smiles for a photo with volunteers and staff at Cathedral Kitchen in Camden.Aliya Schneider / Staff
Booker got tips on making a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich and placed ham and cheese on bread alongside volunteers at Cathedral Kitchen. He said nearby workers cracking eggs were “doing some egg-celent work” and that at first he didn’t know “what the shell” they were doing. In line with his dad jokes, he chatted about how he wants to have kids soon with his wife Alexis Lewis, whom he married last year.
Carrie Kitchen-Santiago, the president and CEO of the Camden-based organization, said 2022 set a record for demand for meals, groceries, and hygiene products, and it’s grown each year since. She said the organization mostly relies on donations and revenue from a catering program but expects the need to increase when benefits cuts are implemented later this year.
She said roughly 2% of the organization’s budget is from government funds but that it does not have any federal funding.
Kitchen-Santiago said providing nutritious meals is a balancing act.
“You want to make sure people are healthy, but also give them something they’ll eat and be culturally appropriate,” she said. “Like, we’re not going to be able to give a stuffed acorn squash. Nobody’s going to eat that. On the other hand, we might be able to do a stew that has vegetables and meat in it.”
The speech and visit to the kitchen were part of a larger swing through South Jersey by Booker while the Senate is on recess.Booker also presented a $2 million check to Inspira Medical Center in Mullica Hill to expand technologies and telehealth services — a congressional allocation from Fiscal Year 26 — and visited Salem Community College’s Glass Education Center.
His schedule on Friday includes presenting $1 million to AtlantiCare Health System and a visit to Atlantic City’s Orange Loop, a neighborhood that was designated an Opportunity Zone under a law he co-authored. He was also slated to visit the Cape May–Lewes Ferry Terminal in North Cape May and a Cumberland County farm.
