Brandon Saffold

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Brandon Saffold

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 10, 2025

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Coast Guard

Years of service

2016 - 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Cape May Court House, N.J.

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Brandon Saffold (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 1. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 10, 2025.

Biography

Brandon Saffold was born in Cape May Court House, New Jersey. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 2016 to 2020.

Elections

2025

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 1 (2 seats)

Incumbent Antwan McClellan, incumbent Erik Simonsen, Carolyn Rush, and Carol Sabo are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 1 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Antwan McClellan (R)
		Erik Simonsen (R)
		Carolyn Rush (D)
	Submit photo	Carol Sabo (D)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 1 (2 seats)

Carolyn Rush and Carol Sabo defeated Brandon Saffold in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 1 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carolyn Rush	41.5	9,985
✔	Submit photo	Carol Sabo	34.8	8,381
		Brandon Saffold	23.7	5,709

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,075
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 1 (2 seats)

Incumbent Erik Simonsen and incumbent Antwan McClellan advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 1 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Erik Simonsen	52.3	14,601
✔		Antwan McClellan	47.7	13,295

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,896
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Saffold received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• Cumberland County (NJ) Democratic Organization
• Good Government Coalition of New Jersey
• Gun Sense Voter

2024

See also: New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024

New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)

New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House New Jersey District 2

Incumbent Jeff Van Drew defeated Joe Salerno and Thomas Cannavo in the general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 2 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Van Drew (R)	58.1	215,946
		Joe Salerno (D)	41.2	153,117
		Thomas Cannavo (G)	0.7	2,557

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 371,620
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 2

Joe Salerno defeated Tim Alexander, Carolyn Rush, and Rodney A. Dean Sr. in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 2 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joe Salerno	38.3	14,057
		Tim Alexander	37.1	13,613
		Carolyn Rush	21.3	7,836
		Rodney A. Dean Sr.	3.4	1,235

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 36,741
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Brandon Saffold (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 2

Incumbent Jeff Van Drew advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 2 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Van Drew	100.0	41,749

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,749
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Saffold in this election.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Brandon Saffold did not complete Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.

2024

Brandon Saffold completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Saffold's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Brandon Saffold was born and raised in Cape May County, NJ and is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community . After high school, Brandon enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. He is the 4th generation in his family to join the Coast Guard, sealing over 106 collective years of service for his family. After his separation from the Coast Guard, Brandon started his education at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, Florida, studying Biomedical Science. In 2022, he transferred to Princeton University and is now studying Politics with a track in American Ideas and Institutions. He remains Passionate about science and takes courses with a focus on climate change. Brandon's work ethic is unparalleled and is a defining characteristic that drives his success.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Lets build a better economy for the working class, lets end this housing crisis and silent depression.
• It's time to codify women's reproductive rights into the constitution.
• Energy independence from fossil fuels is vital for a more sustainable future.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion. I believe everyone should have the same opportunities in life and should not be discriminated against based on sex, race, sexual orientation, or disabilities.

I am also passionate about everyone having a stable living situation. We need to ensure that all people make a wage that can support the necessities in life. The federal minimum wage needs to be increased. Inflation has sky-rocketed, and the federal minimum wage hasn't changed since 2009; it is still $7.25 an hour. It is time to keep up with inflation and pay workers a livable wage. In addition, if the minimum wage is increased, more people will be inclined to work, boosting our economy by increasing tax revenue.

We need members of Congress that are for the people, not the corporations. Tax incentives should go to those who need them, not corporations or billionaires. Many tax credits require you to be wealthy to utilize them. I believe billionaires and corporations should have a cap on tax incentives and write-offs. Having caps would ensure that they pay their fair share.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

---

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

---

Brandon Saffold campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House New Jersey District 2	Withdrew primary	$0	N/A**
Grand total			$0	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

2025 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

New Jersey General Assembly District 1

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Personal

LinkedIn

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the New Jersey General Assembly

Leadership

Representatives

District 1

Antwan McClellan (R)

Erik Simonsen (R)

District 2

Don Guardian (R)

Claire Swift (R)

District 3

Dave Bailey (D)

Heather Simmons (D)

District 4

Dan Hutchison (D)

Cody Miller (D)

District 5

William Moen (D)

William Spearman (D)

District 6

Louis Greenwald (D)

Melinda Kane (D)

District 7

Carol Murphy (D)

Balvir Singh (D)

District 8

Andrea Katz (D)

Michael Torrissi (R)

District 9

Gregory Myhre (R)

Brian Rumpf (R)

District 10

Paul Kanitra (R)

Gregory McGuckin (R)

District 11

Margie Donlon (D)

Luanne Peterpaul (D)

District 12

Robert Clifton (R)

Alex Sauickie (R)

District 13

Victoria Flynn (R)

Gerard Scharfenberger (R)

District 14

Wayne DeAngelo (D)

Tennille McCoy (D)

District 15

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)

Anthony Verrelli (D)

District 16

Mitchelle Drulis (D)

Roy Freiman (D)

District 17

Joseph Danielsen (D)

Kevin Egan (D)

District 18

Robert Karabinchak (D)

Sterley Stanley (D)

District 19

Craig Coughlin (D)

Yvonne Lopez (D)

District 20

Reginald Atkins (D)

Annette Quijano (D)

District 21

Michele Matsikoudis (R)

Nancy Muñoz (R)

District 22

Linda Carter (D)

James Kennedy (D)

District 23

John DiMaio (R)

Erik Peterson (R)

District 24

Dawn Fantasia (R)

Michael Inganamort (R)

District 25

Christian Barranco (R)

Aura Dunn (R)

District 26

Brian Bergen (R)

Jay Webber (R)

District 27

Rosy Bagolie (D)

Alixon Collazos-Gill (D)

District 28

Garnet Hall (D)

Cleopatra Tucker (D)

District 29

Eliana Marin (D)

Shanique Speight (D)

District 30

Sean Kean (R)

Avi Schnall (D)

District 31

William Sampson (D)

Barbara Stamato (D)

District 32

John Allen (D)

Jessica Ramirez (D)

District 33

Julio Marenco (D)

Gabriel Rodriguez (D)

District 34

Carmen Morales (D)

Michael Venezia (D)

District 35

Alaa Abdelaziz (D)

Shavonda Sumter (D)

District 36

Clinton Calabrese (D)

Gary Schaer (D)

District 37

Shama Haider (D)

Ellen Park (D)

District 38

Lisa Swain (D)

Chris Tully (D)

District 39

Robert Auth (R)

John Azzariti (R)

District 40

Al Barlas (R)

Christopher DePhillips (R)

Democratic Party (52)

Republican Party (28)