Democrats add Zack Mullock's challenge of Jeff Van Drew in South Jersey to their 'districts in play' list

Aliya Schneider, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct 2, 2026

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National Democrats added U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s South Jersey district to a list of their target races to flip on Friday, signaling that they’re taking Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock’s candidacy much more seriously than before.

Mullock decisively won a crowded primary in June to face Van Drew, a Cape May County Republican.

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 he made the cut just as everyone else did through social media on Friday, 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.”

Van Drew’s campaign did not immediately comment on the news.

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, 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.

Previously, the only seat in the Garden State that made the cut was U.S. Rep. Tom Kean’s 7th District in Central Jersey, still the only on 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.

Van Drew’s district was one of eight districts across the country added to the battleground list, showing that Democrats are viewing a blue wave as increasingly viable as Trump’s popularity suffers amid the Iran war and a high cost of living. The national party is now targeting a total of 66 races.

The 2nd Congressional District spans several South Jersey counties, extending from the Jersey Shore to rural farmland and the Philadelphia suburbs.

Van Drew has already been thrusting out attack ads as Mullock campaigns across the district, showing that the local mayor was already seen as a threat before national Democrats viewed the race as high profile.

The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) is focused on defending Kean’s district, the only Jersey seat on its “Patriots” list.