Five County Election Stories to Follow in New Jersey

A Democratic fundraising advantage in a Republican county. A sheriff’s challenger reporting more money raised while the incumbent holds more cash. An independent campaign in a heavily Democratic corner of the state.

Those are some of the patterns that emerge when New Jersey’s county races are viewed through the records in Public Record NJ’s new Data section. Campaign-finance reports show the resources candidates and committees disclose. Voter registration describes the electorate. Recent election results provide additional political context.

Read together, the records highlight several county races where the numbers tell different stories. County party committee filings add another layer of context about the resources available to the broader local organizations, although those totals are not specific to any one race.

Here are five to follow ahead of November.

Salem: Democratic money in Republican territory

Salem presents one of the clearest contrasts in the data. New Jersey’s least populous county combines farming communities with transportation and warehousing activity. Its recent election history has favored Republicans, with a 19.2-point presidential margin in 2024 and a 15-point gubernatorial margin in 2025.

Republicans also hold a registration advantage over Democrats. The October registration report lists 16,815 Republicans and 14,608 Democrats, while unaffiliated voters are the largest group at 18,421.

The campaign accounts point in a different direction. Democrats Charles Hassler and John Ayars share a committee that reports $55,609 raised and $29,884 in cash. Republicans Ed Ramsay and Paul M. Collier report a combined $26,625 raised and $3,700 in cash in their individual accounts.

The candidates are competing in two contests: the full-term commissioner race and the unexpired-term race. The Democratic figures belong to the shared committee and cannot be attributed separately to either candidate.

The county party filings are not on the same reporting schedule. The Salem County Republican Committee’s Q3 report shows $93,945 raised to date and $82,463 in cash as of September 30. A Q3 report for the Salem County Democratic Committee is not yet available in the NJ ELEC system; its latest included report is Q2, showing $140 raised to date and $120,674 in cash as of June 30. Those balances therefore should not be treated as a same-period comparison.

The contrast is what makes Salem notable: Democrats report the larger candidate campaign account in a county where recent election results and party registration have favored Republicans. The commissioner seats carry responsibility for county spending, public services, roads and farmland-preservation policy.

Atlantic: fundraising and cash tell different stories

Atlantic County’s shore communities, inland suburbs and casino economy sit within an electorate that has produced different outcomes in recent elections. The county voted Republican for president by 3 points in 2024, then Democratic for governor by 3.6 points in 2025. Democrats have not won a countywide office since 2020.

The sheriff’s race shows why a single campaign-finance measure can be misleading. Democrat Sean Riggin reports $14,286 raised, compared with $5,538 for Republican incumbent Joe O’Donoghue. Riggin also reports more spending. O’Donoghue, however, reports the larger cash balance: $25,563 compared with $13,831.

The distinction matters. Fundraising measures money received during the reporting period. Cash on hand measures what remains available, including money accumulated before that period.

October registration shows 70,095 Democrats, 61,812 Republicans and 71,702 unaffiliated voters. The Democratic registration advantage has not translated into a recent countywide win.

County party finances show a similar difference between money raised and money available. The Atlantic County Democratic Committee reports $110,748 raised to date and $81,358 in cash, while the Atlantic County Republican Committee reports $37,349 raised to date and $89,277 in cash.

The sheriff’s race adds another financial contrast to that broader political picture in an office responsible for court security, serving legal process and other public-safety functions.

Monmouth: financial and electoral advantages align

In Monmouth, several indicators point in the same direction. The county commissioner board has been entirely Republican since 2011. Republicans carried the county for president by 11.4 points in 2024 and for governor by 7.9 points in 2025.

Republican commissioner candidates Erik Anderson and Anthony Perry report a combined $157,137 raised and $186,828 in cash. No financial totals are available for the joint committee associated with Democrats Chelsey Tanner and Sofia J. Ugarte. Individually, both candidates have filed A-1 certifications indicating they expect to spend no more than $6,900 each.

The registration picture provides another point of context: 171,120 Republicans, 143,932 Democrats and 190,775 unaffiliated voters. Republicans outnumber Democrats, but neither party is the county’s largest registration group.

The county party filings also show a Republican financial advantage. The Monmouth County Republican Committee reports $411,806 raised to date and $107,370 in cash, compared with $264,575 raised and $78,393 in cash for the Monmouth County Democratic Organization.

Monmouth spans shore towns, Bayshore communities, inland suburbs and farmland. County government links those areas through services including parks, libraries and other countywide programs. The 2026 race will provide another measure of whether the partisan pattern that has defined the commissioner board since 2011 continues.

Bergen: a closer presidential margin meets a strong Democratic local position

Bergen’s 2024 presidential result stands out from its recent history: Democrats carried the county by 3.4 points, down from 16.4 points in 2020. The 2025 gubernatorial margin, however, was Democratic by 11 points. Taken together, the results do not show a simple one-directional shift.

The county executive race adds a financial dimension. Democratic incumbent James J. Tedesco III reports $164,951 raised and $416,600 in cash. Financial totals are unavailable for Republican Todd H. Hennessey.

Registration remains more favorable to Democrats than Republicans, 255,001 to 164,279. Unaffiliated voters are slightly more numerous than either group, at 259,733.

The county party accounts show an even wider financial difference. The Bergen County Democratic Committee reports $801,597 raised to date and $861,822 in cash, while the Bergen County Republican Organization reports $97,735 raised to date and $12,654 in cash.

In New Jersey’s most populous county, the executive proposes the budget and directs county departments. Tedesco enters the final weeks of the campaign with a substantial reported cash reserve, while the recent presidential and gubernatorial results provide different snapshots of Bergen’s electorate.

Hudson: an independent challenge in northeastern Jersey City

Hudson’s story is more local. The District 4 county commissioner race covers northeastern Jersey City, where Democratic incumbent Yraida Aponte-Lipski faces independent Aaron Weiner. It is a county commissioner district, not a Jersey City council ward.

Weiner reports $16,601 raised and $11,850 in cash. Financial totals are unavailable for Aponte-Lipski. The available figures establish that the independent campaign has reported financial activity, but they do not establish a financial advantage.

The countywide backdrop is heavily Democratic. October registration shows 227,411 Democrats and 55,304 Republicans, alongside 148,336 unaffiliated voters. Democrats carried Hudson by 28.1 points for president in 2024 and 50.6 points for governor in 2025.

County party finances reflect a similarly large difference in organizational resources. The Hudson County Democratic Organization reports $576,426 raised to date and $96,697 in cash. The Hudson County Republican Party reports $29,097 raised to date and $12,234 in cash.

Those countywide figures cannot describe District 4 precisely, and they do not indicate how voters in the district will respond to an independent candidate. They do, however, provide context for a race that differs from the others in this list: a district-level independent challenge within a county where Democrats hold a large registration advantage and have recently won countywide elections by wide margins.

Follow the races as the records develop

These are starting points for reporting, not race ratings. Salem pairs a Democratic candidate-account advantage with recent Republican electoral strength. Atlantic shows how money raised and cash on hand can tell different stories at both the candidate and county party level. Monmouth combines a long-standing Republican commissioner majority with stronger Republican county party finances. Bergen pairs a closer 2024 presidential result with a large Democratic registration and county party financial advantage. Hudson offers a district-level independent challenge within a county where Democratic registration and party finances are substantially larger.

The linked race sections bring candidates, financial records and local context together. As new reports become available, those records provide a way to revisit the same comparisons with updated evidence.

Figures reflect PRNJ’s current visualization data when this article was prepared. Candidate financial amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar; the cited candidate reporting period is June 20 through October 2, 2026. County party committee figures use Q3 reports covering July 1 through September 30, except the Salem County Democratic Committee, whose latest available NJ ELEC report is Q2 through June 30. Registration counts come from the October report dated October 1. Shared committee funds are counted once in summary totals. Unavailable financial figures are not zero. Historical margins describe countywide presidential and gubernatorial results, not the outcomes of these local races. Registration does not measure turnout or predict how people will vote.