Andy Kim tours Cumberland County, hears residents’ South Jersey concerns

Andy Kim spent the day in Cumberland County hearing from residents who want South Jersey’s needs treated as more than an afterthought. At Maplewood Gardens in Bridgeton, a 100-unit family public housing complex, the Democratic U.S. senator opened with a question that framed the visit: “What’s South Jersey’s punch list?”

Kim’s stops in Bridgeton and Vineland came as Cumberland County continues to grapple with the pressures of a region that often feels overlooked in state politics. The county had 154,152 residents in the 2020 Census, and the Census Bureau estimated its population at 157,148 on July 1, 2025. It is New Jersey’s fifth-largest county by land area, with a 2024 median household income of $68,067, an employment rate of 53.4% and 22.2% of adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.

At Maplewood Gardens, Kim talked with residents in and around the George Baker Jamison Community Center at 19 Maple Drive about the everyday services that shape life in public housing, from safe streets to stable infrastructure. The Bridgeton Housing Authority says the complex has 100 units. Kim said his approach is to listen to constituents rather than “those who yell the loudest,” a line that underscored the contrast he drew between South Jersey’s local concerns and the louder political pull of North Jersey.

In Vineland, Kim met with residents at the Pineland Learning Center and spoke with people who oppose a large data center project that has become a flashpoint in the city. Their concerns center on noise, water use, electricity demand, transparency and environmental impacts. For many in the room, the fight over the project has become a test of whether large-scale development will bring jobs and investment or leave local neighborhoods paying the price.

Kim has also highlighted transportation as a South Jersey access issue, including the Vineland commuter express shuttle and wider transit access that could help residents reach jobs more easily. He has said he is the first U.S. senator from South Jersey in more than 70 years, a political distinction that gives his visits added weight in a county where residents say basic infrastructure, public services and economic development still lag behind need. The visit put that promise to a practical test: whether attention from Washington turns into measurable follow-through for Bridgeton, Vineland and the rest of Cumberland County.