NORTHFIELD, NJ—The primary is less than 40 days away. On June 2, the four Democrats competing for New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District will stop running against the clock and start running against one another.
The winner will face Republican incumbent Jeff Van Drew in November. Van Drew, of Dennis Township, first won election as a Democrat in 2018 before announcing his party switch in December 2019.
Van Drew, who runs unopposed in the Republican primary, has won two re-election campaigns since. He took 58.1 percent of the vote in 2024. His weakest county that year was Atlantic at 53.7 percent. His strongest was Ocean at approximately 66.8 percent.
The district covers Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem Counties, plus parts of Gloucester and Ocean. It stretches from the Pine Barrens to the Delaware Bay and includes about 794,000 people.
The field reflects the geographic and ideological spread of a district that Cook Political Report rates as Solid Republican. Donald Trump carried the seat by 13 points in 2024, according to Cook Political Report. The Democratic primary winner faces a steep climb against an incumbent who reported $1.35 million cash on hand at the end of March.
Here is who is on the ballot.
Bayly Winder : The State Department Veteran
Bayly Winder is 33 years old and grew up in New Jersey, where his family spent summers on the Shore in Barnegat Light and Cape May. He is a fourth-generation New Jerseyan. His grandfather drove an ambulance in World War II and later became a Middle East scholar at Princeton and NYU.
Winder went to Johns Hopkins for undergrad then Oxford University on the other side of the Atlantic. He was a Fulbright scholar in Kuwait and earned an MBA at Saint Joseph's University. He worked at the State Department on Iran policy and later advised USAID Administrator Samantha Power. He also advised the FBI on technology issues, according to WHYY.
He launched his bid in June 2025. Winder has won zero county convention lines, but he has raised the most money of any Democrat in the race. His campaign pulled in $643,021 in the first quarter and reported $246,909 cash on hand. He does not take corporate PAC money.
Tim Alexander : The Detective Turned Civil Rights Attorney
Tim Alexander grew up in Newark and moved to South Jersey as a teenager. He joined the police academy at 18. At 19, officers shot at him and beat him during a mistaken identity stop. He cleared his name and planned to quit. His grandfather told him to stay and push for change from the inside. He spent 23 years at the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office and retired as a detective captain. He later worked as an assistant district attorney and assistant city solicitor in Philadelphia before focusing on civil rights litigation. He won the 2022 Democratic nomination for Van Drew's seat, but lost the 2024 primary after officials eliminated county lines.
This year, Alexander has won four county conventions: in Atlantic, Cumberland, Ocean and Salem. He also holds the UNITE HERE Local 54 endorsement. His campaign raised $66,506 in the first quarter with $6,812 cash on hand. He does not take corporate PAC money.
Zack Mullock: The Mayor of Cape May
Zack Mullock is 40 years old and the only candidate currently holding elected office. He has been mayor of Cape May since 2021 and spent eight years on the city council before that.
He earned a bachelor's degree at Mount St. Mary's University, where his campaign says he served as class president and a student athlete. He holds an MBA from Saint Joseph's University. His family has deep hospitality roots in Cape May, with ties to the Chalfonte Hotel and the Victorian Rose Bed & Breakfast. He served as construction manager for the Harriet Tubman Museum and restored the historic parsonage of the Macedonia Baptist Church.
Mullock entered the race in February 2026 and has won the Cape May County convention line. His campaign raised $274,340 in the first quarter and reported $250,091 cash on hand. That sum puts him roughly even with Winder and well ahead of the rest of the field. Mullock has not made an explicit pledge to refuse PAC money, despite his listed policy positions and campaign rhetoric against PACs. Nevertheless, his FEC filings show that he has only received individual donations.
Terri Reese: The Retail Manager From Northfield
Terri Reese still lives in the same Northfield house she grew up in. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and spent more than 30 years in retail management at Victoria's Secret, Gap, Talbots and Apple. She left that world to become a full-time caregiver for her mother who developed dementia. She now works for the New Jersey Department of Labor in the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance.
Reese is a single mother of two and one of her children has significant mental health challenges. She is also a certified yoga instructor. She has won zero county convention lines.
Her campaign is running on the slimmest budget in the race: $11,931 raised in the first quarter with $1,282 cash on hand. She does not take corporate PAC money.
What About the Incumbent?
is waiting on the other side of the June primary. Voters first elected him as a Democrat before his party switch. His campaign reported $1,529,764 in first-quarter receipts and $1,350,987 cash on hand. Those numbers place him over a million dollars cash-in-hand ahead of even Winder’s campaign.
Van Drew voted against the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, records show. He has supported expanding domestic energy production. His current campaign centers on affordability, energy and border security, according to his website.
Bayly Winder speaks at a town hall in South Jersey on April 22, 2026. (NJBallot video)
What's Next From NJBallot
This article is the first in a series. NJBallot will publish a complete voter guide to the CD-2 primary in the coming weeks, with side-by-side policy positions, key dates and video interviews with each campaign. Subscribe for future updates.
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Sources
• Beccah Hendrickson, WPVI-TV, "Harriet Tubman Museum under construction in Cape May" (August 28, 2019)
• Cook Political Report, "NJ-02 2026" (February 13, 2026)
• David Wildstein, New Jersey Globe, "Cumberland Dems back Alexander for NJ-2 after chair endorsement snafu" (March 6, 2026)
• David Wildstein, New Jersey Globe, "In race to challenge Van Drew, Alexander wins Salem Dem endorsement in NJ-2" (March 14, 2026)
• Federal Election Commission, "Q1 2026 campaign finance filings" (April 15, 2026)
• GovTrack.us, "H.R. 5376: Inflation Reduction Act of 2022" (August 12, 2022)
• Insider NJ, "UNITE HERE Local 54 Endorses Alexander in CD-2" (February 12, 2026)
• Jeff Van Drew, Ballotpedia, candidate profile (2026)
• Joey Fox, New Jersey Globe, "Alexander narrowly beats Winder for Atlantic Dem endorsement" (March 8, 2026)
• Joey Fox, New Jersey Globe, "Alexander, Peace get Ocean Dem endorsement for GOP-held House seats" (March 16, 2026)
• New Jersey Secretary of State, certified candidate list (2026)
• New Jersey Secretary of State, certified election results (November 5, 2024)
• Office of Rep. Jeff Van Drew, "Congressman Van Drew Votes NO on the Democrats' Inflation 'Reduction' Act" (August 12, 2022)
• Philadelphia Inquirer, "Cape May is banding together to build a museum for Harriet Tubman" (November 9, 2019)
• Rachel Shubin, Ocean City Sentinel, "Tim Alexander is running in the Democratic primary for Congress" (April 8, 2026)
• The Green Papers, "New Jersey 2026 General Election" (February 5, 2026)
• University of Pennsylvania, "1989 Commencement Program" (1989)
• WHYY, "New Jersey election 2026: These 4 Democrats are competing to unseat Jeff Van Drew in Congress" (April 12, 2026)