Politics & Government

Hughes Center at Stockton Announces Three Dates For State Senate Debates

Debates between candidates in Districts 1, 2 and 9 will take place throughout October.

The William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and The Press of Atlantic City announced three dates for debates between candidates for the State Senate and Assembly in the First, Second and Ninth Legislative Districts on Tuesday.

Sen. Jim Whelan, a Democrat, will debate his Republican challenger in District 2, Atlantic County Sheriff Frank X. Balles, on Oct. 2 at Stockton’s Dante Hall Theater on North Mississippi Avenue in Atlantic City. The debate begins at 6 p.m., followed by a debate between incumbent Republican Assemblymen John Amodeo and Christopher A.  Brown and their Democratic challengers Northfield Mayor Vincent Mazzeo and Longport Mayor Nick Russo at 7 p.m.

District 2 covers parts of Atlantic County.

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This will be the format for all three debates, with the Senate debates beginning at 6 p.m. and the Assembly debates following at 7 p.m.

On Oct. 21, incumbent Democratic state Sen. Jeff Van Drew takes on District 1 Republican challenger Republican Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt. Incumbent Democratic Assemblymen Nelson Albano and Bob Andrzejczak will then debate Republican challengers Sam Fiocchi, a Cumberland County freeholder, and Cape May County Freeholder Kristine Gabor.

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The Old Courthouse on Route 9 in Cape May Courthouse will host this debate. District 1 encompasses Cape May County, and parts of Atlantic and Cumberland counties.

Finally, the candidates in District 9 will debate at the Campus Theatre in Galloway on Oct. 23. District 9 covers parts of Atlantic County, including Galloway, as well as Burlington and Ocean counties.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Chris Connors faces Democratic challenger and former director of the Department of the Treasury Anthony Mazzella. This will be followed by a debate between Republican Assembly members DiAnne Gove and Brian Rumpf and Democratic challengers Peter Ferwerda III, a retired municipal and civil engineer, and Christopher McManus, a Stockton Honors Program student in Business Studies.

"Candidate debates are essential to civic engagement. They give the voting public an opportunity to hear directly from both major party candidates," Hughes Center Executive Director Dan Douglas said in a prepared statement. “ … The Hughes Center is pleased that the Republicans and Democrats from each of the three districts have agreed to the debates."


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