<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0Psltu_1H453dPV00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0Psltu_1H453dPV00" width="471" height="406" ><figcaption>Former Senate President Frank Farley. (Photo: Ace Alagna collection courtesy of the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives &amp; Special Collections Center, Seton Hall University Libraries, South Orange).</figcaption></figure>Atlantic County Republicans might want to dust off their history books. The political organization once ruled by Hap Farley, the legendary Republican boss who dominated county politics for three decades, took a beating in the 2026 midterm elections, losing every countywide race and watching voters who had supported Donald Trump two years earlier deliver decisive victories to Democrats.The Democratic sweep included defeating two Republican constitutional officers, Sheriff Joe O’Donoghue and County Clerk Joseph Giralo, and a congressional landslide that helped end the career of four-term Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis).Democrat Sean Riggin defeated O’Donoghue by eight percentage points, while Lisa Bender ousted Giralo by nine points. Both Republicans had won their offices by defeating Democratic incumbents, Giralo in 2021 and O’Donoghue in 2023.The reversals were substantial. Giralo had won by eleven points five years ago, making his defeat a 20-point swing toward Democrats. O’Donoghue had unseated Democratic Sheriff Eric Scheffler by four points in 2023, a twelve-point turnaround.And while both Democratic challengers carried just ten of Atlantic County’s 23 municipalities, their margins in the county’s Democratic strongholds, combined with gains in traditionally Republican communities, were more than enough to win.In Atlantic City, Bender won by 60 points and Riggin by 56. In Pleasantville, their margins were 75 and 71 points, respectively.But the more consequential results came in communities that Republicans had previously carried.Bender and Riggin both won Galloway Township, Egg Harbor Township, Hamilton Township, Absecon and Somers Point, all municipalities that had voted Republican in the corresponding earlier races. Northfield and Ventnor City also supported both Democrats.The results were particularly striking in Egg Harbor Township, where Giralo had won by 13 points in 2021 and O’Donoghue by seven points in 2023. Bender carried the township by ten points, while Riggin won by four.Galloway Township, another major battleground, gave Bender an 11-point win and Riggin a 10-point win.The Republican losses were not limited to the county courthouse.U.S. Sen. Cory Booker carried Atlantic County by 15 points against Republican Justin Murphy, doubling his seven-point margin from 2020. Booker won 13 municipalities, compared with just four carried by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andy Kim in 2024.Two years ago, Republican Curtis Bashaw had carried Atlantic County by two points against Kim. In 2021, Republican Jack Ciattarelli had defeated Gov. Phil Murphy here by twelve points.Even last year, when Gov. Mikie Sherrill won Atlantic County by four points, Democrats carried only eight municipalities.Booker’s performance marked an 11-point improvement over Sherrill’s margin and a 17-point shift from the 2024 Senate election.The congressional results were even more dramatic.Democrat Zack Mullock, the mayor of Cape May, carried Atlantic County by 13 points against Van Drew, winning twelve municipalities. In 2024, Van Drew had defeated Democrat Joe Salerno by eight points in Atlantic County and carried twenty of its 23 towns.That represented a 21-point shift toward Democrats in just two years.Mullock won Galloway Township by 14 points, Hamilton Township by 17, and Egg Harbor Township by 13. Van Drew carried all three in 2024.Absecon, Northfield, Somers Point, Linwood, Margate and Ventnor also voted for Mullock after supporting Van Drew two years earlier.The results illustrate how much Atlantic County’s political landscape has changed in a relatively short period.Trump carried Atlantic County by three points in 2024, and Van Drew won it by eight. A year later, Sherrill carried it by four. Now, Booker has won it by fifteen, Mullock by thirteen, and Democrats have reclaimed the sheriff’s and clerk’s offices.For Republicans, the question is whether 2026 was a temporary setback in a Democratic wave or evidence of a more durable realignment.The answer could come quickly.Atlantic County’s legislative delegation remains Republican, but the party’s margins have been narrowing. In the 2023 State Senate elections, Republican candidates collectively carried the Atlantic County portions of their districts by twelve points.In the 2025 Assembly elections, the Republican advantage in the county’s seat-deciding legislative contests was just five points, down from fourteen points in 2023.In Galloway Township, Republicans carried the comparable Assembly vote by fourteen points in 2023 and just three points in 2025. In Egg Harbor Township, their eighteen-point advantage shrank to three points. Hamilton Township actually flipped Democratic.Those results preceded this year’s Democratic surge.State Sen. Vincent Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township) and his Republican running mates will face voters in 2027 in a county where the political environment looks considerably different from the one that elected them.Atlantic County Republicans have survived difficult elections before. But the 2026 results suggest that relying on the county’s historical Republican lean may no longer be enough.Farley controlled the Atlantic County Republican organization from 1941 – before him, it was Nucky Johnson of Boardwalk Empire fame — until Democrat Joseph McGahn defeated him in 1971, ending one of New Jersey’s most formidable political machines.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0ynUoD_1H453dPV00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0ynUoD_1H453dPV00" width="816" height="1056" ></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0JzJuF_1H453dPV00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0JzJuF_1H453dPV00" width="816" height="1056" ></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1EAsdT_1H453dPV00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1EAsdT_1H453dPV00" width="816" height="1056" ></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1heeCj_1H453dPV00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1heeCj_1H453dPV00" width="816" height="1056" ></figure></div></body>

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Atlantic County Republicans might want to dust off their history books. The political organization once ruled by Hap Farley, the legendary Republican boss who dominated county politics for three decades, took a beating in the 2026 midterm elections, losing every countywide race and watching voters who had supported Donald Trump two years earlier deliver decisive victories to Democrats.

It wasn’t Hap Farley’s Atlantic County this year

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Atlantic County Republicans might want to dust off their history books. The political organization once ruled by Hap Farley, the legendary Republican boss 

It wasn’t Hap Farley’s Atlantic County this year

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