Colin Bell

Colin Geoffrey Bell (born April 20, 1981) is an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey Senate, representing the 2nd Legislative District, from October 5, 2017, to January 9, 2018. Bell was selected to fill the seat of fellow Democrat Jim Whelan following Whelan's death; Bell subsequently lost his 2017 general election bid to Republican Chris A. Brown. Prior to his tenure in the New Jersey Senate, Bell was an Atlantic County Freeholder from 2013 to 2015.

Education and legal career Bell grew up in Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, New Jersey and graduated from Oakcrest High School. From 2006 to 2008, Bell was an Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor. He ran again in 2012 and won the one at-large seat on the board, where he served a single three-year term of office. On the freeholder board, Bell supported programs to increase openness and fiscal responsibility, help the area recover from Hurricane Sandy and to assist veterans find homes and jobs.

Bell was unanimously selected on September 5, 2017, by the Democratic county committee to fill the remainder of Whelan's senate term following Whelan's death on August 22. He was sworn into office on October 5.

A resident of Margate City, Bell had originally planned to run for Assembly in 2017, with Mazzeo running for Whelan's Senate seat. After Mazzeo's father died, Mazzeo decided to run for re-election to his Assembly seat and Bell ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for the vacant Senate seat.

In one of the most expensive of the 120 legislative races in the 2017 general election, in which $4.6 million was spent, Republican Chris A. Brown defeated Bell by a 54%–46% margin, taking a Senate seat that had been held by Democrats since 2008 and giving the Republicans their only Senate seat that changed parties, in an election that had many major victories for the Democratic Party across the state.

Electoral history Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders