Gustafson Challenges Norcross Again In NJ-1

NJ-1: Donald Norcross (D, incumbent) and Claire Gustafson (R)

NEW JERSEY — The race for New Jersey’s first congressional district is a rematch between a Democratic incumbent with family ties and a Republican businesswoman who is a former Collingswood school board member.

Check back on Election Night for live results in NJ-1.

Incumbent Donald Norcross has been in the position for four terms, and was first elected to this position in 2014. Challenger Claire Gustafson is hoping to lure voters away from what she calls the “political cartel that rules South Jersey.”

NJ-1 includes Camden County, most of Gloucester County, and the Burlington County communities of Maple Shade and Palmyra. Norcross lives in Camden and Gustafson lives in Collingswood.

Norcross, a former assemblyman and an electrician by trade, is the brother of South Jersey Democratic operative George E. Norcross. Gustafson has leveraged these ties against him.

There are also two independent candidates and one Libertarian on the ballot.

Norcross has raised $1.84 million according to campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets.org. However, he’s spent $2.1 million and has $1.5 million cash on hand. Much of the reported donations to his campaign are large individual donations and PAC contributions.

Gustafson donated $100,000 to her own campaign and has taken no PAC money, data shows. She has not filed a campaign finance report for June-September with the Federal Election Commission, data shows.

Norcross beat Gustafson by more than 29 percentage points in 2020. In 2018, he also had a large margin of victory, winning 64.4 percent of the vote.

Gustafson is endorsed by the chairs of the Camden and Gloucester county Republican parties as well as Senator Ed Durr, the upstart who unseated former Senate president Steve Sweeney in the statehouse. Durr represents some Gloucester County municipalities, so his endorsement holds weight in the district.

Norcross, a longtime union member, is also former President of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO. The gun safety group Brady: United Against Gun Violence endorses him, as does the New Jersey Education Association and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

In June, Norcross celebrated the Safer Communities Act, which requires more thorough background checks for buyers under 21 and provided funding for violence prevention at schools.

Gustafson has called for “an end to the assault on our Second Amendment” and says she is in strong opposition to any attempt to create a national registry.

Gustafson also supports dismantling Common Core and calls for expanding the New Jersey Interdistrict School Choice Program. She also spoke up against “wokeness” at KIPP Cooper Norcross Whittier Middle School, asking Norcross to speak out against a teacher who was teaching students about alternative pronouns and posting the videos on TikTok.

Gustafson said Democrats have wrongly framed the abortion debate and said she believes in certain cases, “ the decision should be left to the mother, her doctor and her God.”

The other candidates on the ballot are Libertarian Isaiah Fletcher, and independents Patricia Kline and Allen Cannon.

Editor's note: Patch has reached out to both campaigns for photos of the candidates.

What municipalities are in this district?

All Camden County municipalities are in NJ-1.

Burlington County: Maple Shade and Palmyra.

Gloucester County: Deptford, part of East Greenwich, Glassboro, Mantua, Monroe, National Park, Paulsboro, Pitman, Washington, Wenonah, West Deptford, Westville, Woodbury, and Woodbury Heights.