The Second District includes Atlantic City and seventeen other of Atlantic County's twenty-three municipalities. Within the district, the strongest Republican voter registrations are in Longport and Port Republic, which each had over half of their registered voters declaring Republican affiliations in recent elections, while Democratic strongholds include Atlantic City and Pleasantville, where about a third of voters are Democratic.

With 40,517 residents according to the 2000 census, Atlantic City has the largest permanent population, but the City and the other municipalities also have high numbers of summer visitors and part-time residents who place pressure on government services well beyond the levels of their reported permanent population as counted in the Census.

The entire district's economy is significantly impacted by casino gambling, as well as the development constraints placed on the Pinelands region on the western edge of the district. The slowing of casino-induced development resulting from increased competition from neighboring jurisdictions and the economic recession has adversely impacted employment and new construction. Much of the new housing previously spurred by Atlantic City's earlier casino growth has occurred outisde the City, where taxes and real estate values are lower and where public schools demonstate higher performance levels than in the City itself.

Municipal government spending per capita is the second highest in the state, but spending per pupil is among the lowest in the state. Furthermore, the proportion of college graduates is well below the state average. The district is home to an above average number of African-Americans and elderly when compared to the state average.Issues affecting the district include potential new competition to casino gambling,such as proposals to authorize slot machines at race tracks; shore protection and beach replenishment; highway and transit improvements; and senior citizens programs.

In one of the hardest-fought campaigns in the 2007 election, Democratic Assemblyman and former Atlantic City Mayor James Whelan, was elected to the Senate, defeating James “Sonny” McCullough by 57 percent to 43 percent. McCulloough, the veteran mayor of Egg Harbor Township, had served in the Senate since he was selected on February 20, 2007, by vote of the district Republican committee to succeed fellow Republican Senator William Gormley, who resigned effective February 15 after serving in the Senate since 1982. McCullough was chosen in a contest over incumbent Republican Assemblyman Francis “Frank” Blee, who had been endorsed by Gormley. After briefly considering switching parties to run against McCullough, Blee decided to retire from the Assembly. Senator Whelan served as mayor of Atlantic City 1990-2001 and is a teacher at the Martin Luther King School in the City.

The two open Assembly seats were filled by Republicans Vincent Polistina of Egg Harbor Township, who heads an engineering firm, and John Amodeo, a former Linwood City Councilman who is employed as a crane operator and is a member of Operating Engineers Local 825.

In 2009, the Assembly incumbents were re-elected, defeating Democrats Jimmy Martinez, a Northfield Councilman, and Reginald Floyd, a Northfield attorney and Minister.