The final tally of who’s leaving Trenton this year
January 9, 2024 will be a big day in the New Jersey Statehouse. On that day, more than three dozen new members of the legislature will be sworn into office, reshaping Trenton in their image.
A total of 31 legislators currently serving in Trenton won’t be back when the new legislature convenes. That number increases to 37 if you count the six members of the Assembly who successfully ran for the State Senate this year, meaning that they’ll be serving in new roles come 2024 even if they aren’t leaving the statehouse itself.
And if you also include the four legislators who died or resigned midway through their terms, then the number of legislators elected in 2021 who will be gone or holding new offices reaches 40 – one-third of the entire legislature. (No, that’s not shoddy math; one of the four who left early was replaced by a caretaker legislator who didn’t seek re-election either, so he shouldn’t be double counted.)
The reasons for their departures were varied; some were defeated in general elections, others were pushed out by party leaders during primary season, and some simply decided they were done after decades in the legislature.
13 legislators chose to retire (two of them after the primary)
13 of this year’s retirements came from legislators who, after one term in the legislature or seventeen, came to the conclusion that Trenton was no longer the place they wanted to be.
The longest tenure coming to an end this year is State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Roseland), who has been in the legislature since 1974 and who served as acting governor for more than a year in the 2000s. Codey was originally all set to run for re-election and won a competitive Democratic primary in June, but he changed course in August and decided to retire after all.
His wasn’t the only surprising retirement. Three brand-new legislators – State Sen. Jean Stanfield (R-Westampton) and Assemblywomen Sadaf Jaffer (D-Montgomery) and DeAnne DeFuccio (R-Upper Saddle River) – all decided to call it quits after just one or two terms in the statehouse. Jaffer in particular was viewed as a potential rising star, but the swing-district assemblywoman said that she didn’t want to put her family through another grueling election cycle.
Another member of the Assembly, Assemblywoman Jackie Yustein (D-Glen Ridge), is leaving after less than one term in office, but her retirement comes with a major asterisk. Yustein was chosen at a special election convention in April to replace former Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Nutley) on an interim basis after Caputo resigned to take a seat on the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Board of Directors; she was selected with the specific intention of not running for a full term.
Several retirements were motivated in part by redistricting. Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-South Orange) decided to retire after her hometown was moved into an entirely different district, though she would have gotten party support if she had run again. And down in South Jersey, the reshaping of the 4th district into a highly competitive seat helped spur the departures of State Sen. Fred Madden (D-Washington) and Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera (D-Gloucester Township).
Senate President Pro Tempore Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City)’s retirement was maybe the most expected of any legislator’s, since her cognitive health issues have prevented her from even making an appearance in Trenton for well over a year.
Also retiring this year were State Sen. Christopher Connors (R-Lacey), Assemblyman Joe Egan (D-New Brunswick), and Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-Hardyston), all veteran Trenton figures who wanted to leave on their own terms.
Like Codey’s, Egan’s decision to step down came after the primary election, and he may have had somewhat underhanded motives for doing so. The timing of Egan’s retirement meant that there was no primary for his seat, with his replacement instead chosen at a convention of Middlesex and Somerset Democrats – and who did they choose but New Brunswick Councilman Kevin Egan, the assemblyman’s son.
Eight legislators were pushed out
In addition to the 13 legislators who made a deliberate decision not to seek re-election, there were another eight who technically retired voluntarily – but only because party leaders had denied them support for another term or were threatening to do so.
Four of them came from Hudson County, where local Democratic leaders used the state’s new map as an opportunity to completely overhaul the county’s legislative delegation.
The biggest name pushed aside was State Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-North Bergen), who was boxed out by State Sen. Brian Stack (D-Union City) after the two were drawn into the same district. Sacco did win re-election this year as mayor of North Bergen, but the new map meant that his 30-year legislative career is coming to an end.
The newly drawn Hudson County map also had major implications for the county’s Assembly delegation. Both of Sacco’s running mates, Assemblyman Pedro Mejia (D-Secaucus) and Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez (D-West New York), were also given the boot in order to create a new Stack-led legislative ticket. (Jimenez ran instead for town commissioner in West New York, but lost in the nonpartisan May election.)
And one district to the south, Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro (D-Hoboken) lost the support of Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who by custom gets the final say over Hoboken’s representative in the Assembly.
The legislative map reshaped Assemblyman Tom Giblin (D-Montclair)’s district in Essex County as well, but he initially intended on running again – until a few days before the filing deadline, when it was reported that his chief of staff planned to file a workplace harassment suit against him, prompting top Democrats to nudge him towards the exit. (The lawsuit, for what it’s worth, hasn’t gone anywhere since then.)
On the Republican side of the aisle, Assemblyman Kevin Rooney (R-Wyckoff) drew the short end of the stick when party leaders decided that his seat should go to a politician from Essex County instead. Rooney wasn’t happy with the decision, but he decided to retire rather than fight it out in a primary.
Assemblywoman DiAnne Gove (R-Long Beach) took her re-election bid to the Ocean GOP convention, where she lost to Stafford Mayor Greg Myhre 67 votes to 56. She, too, considered pushing through to a primary before ultimately bowing to political reality and retiring.
Then there’s State Sen. Sam Thompson (D-Old Bridge), the center of one of the year’s most fascinating sagas. The 88-year-old Thompson had served in the legislature for 25 years as a Republican, but when party leaders began agitating for someone younger to replace him, he turned the tables on them and switched parties.
Thompson originally intended on seeking re-election, and Democrats were prepared to support him for their nomination. But it would have almost certainly been a fool’s errand in Thompson’s deeply Republican district, and he eventually chose to retire instead.
Two legislators left to run for county or local offices
Two assemblymen decided this year that they’d rather serve in local or county office, though only one of them was successful.
Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Hamilton)’s campaign for Mercer County Executive will go down as one of the year’s most impressive. The assemblyman defeated five-term incumbent County Executive Brian Hughes in a landslide at the Mercer Democratic convention, and proceeded to have no issues in the primary or general election to lead New Jersey’s 12th-largest county.
Assemblyman John Catalano (R-Brick), on the other hand, wasn’t able to convert his legislative profile into local success. Catalano wanted to become the mayor of Brick – which would have been a promotion from being a backbench minority-party assemblyman – but lost to appointed Democratic Mayor Lisa Crate in a 59%-41% rout. Crate’s win continues a streak of local Democratic successes in otherwise deep-red Brick.
Two legislators lost primary elections
In June, two incumbents saw their legislative careers come to an end – at least for now – when they lost to fellow incumbents in heated primary elections.
State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair) had been suckerpunched by the state’s new map, which put her in the same district as Codey. Lacking party support, Gill ran off-the-line against Codey and lost 58%-42% – closer than most expected, but still not enough to keep her in the legislature. (Only two months later, Codey dropped his own re-election bid.)
Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer (R-Woolwich), meanwhile, could have easily gotten party backing for another term, but instead broke with State Sen. Ed Durr (R-Logan) and ran against him in the GOP Senate primary. She lost the primary 65%-35%, though since Democrats ended up flipping the 3rd district anyways, she may not have been able to win another term even if she had stuck with Durr.
Six legislators lost general elections
The final say over who gets to serve in the statehouse lies with New Jersey’s general election voters, and they decided this year that six more incumbents, all of them Republicans, won’t be returning to Trenton.
Two losses came in the 3rd district, where Durr lost handily to former Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro) and dragged Assemblywoman McCarthy Patrick (R-Mannington) down with him. Durr had won in a major upset in 2021, unseating Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), but South Jersey Democrats invested a lot of money this year to make sure Durr and his running mates became one-term wonders.
South Jersey Democrats also scored a surprising victory in the 8th district, where Assemblyman Brandon Umba (R-Medford) lost to Democrat Andrea Katz by 238 votes. Things almost got quite a bit worse for Burlington County Republicans, since Umba’s two running mates only barely won their own elections.
In the 11th district, State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch)’s landslide re-election helped sweep his running mates, Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, into office against incumbent Assemblywomen Marilyn Piperno (R-Colts Neck) and Kim Eulner (R-Shrewsbury). Piperno and Eulner had unseated two Democratic incumbents in 2021, but their victories proved to be short-lived.
Lastly, there’s Assemblyman Ned Thomson (R-Wall), who got annihilated by Democrat Avi Schnall in a demonstration of the Lakewood Orthodox Jewish community’s political power. Even though Thomson’s 30th district is usually solidly Republican, Orthodox leaders mobilized a massive voter turnout operation to elect Schnall, who will be the first-ever Orthodox Jew from Lakewood to serve in the legislature.
Six assemblymembers won open Senate seats
By far the most common path to becoming a New Jersey state senator is getting a promotion from the Assembly, a path that six upwardly mobile assemblymembers followed this year.
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Washington) succeeded Madden in the 4th district; Assemblyman Parker Space (R-Wantage) took Oroho’s spot in the 24th district; Assemblywoman Angela McKnight (D-Jersey City) and Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-Jersey City) won open Senate seats in Hudson County’s 31st and 32nd districts; and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange) and Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake (D-East Orange) were upgraded to the Senate in Essex County’s 27th and 34th districts.
All six have at least several terms in the Assembly under their belt, so they’re far from newcomers to the legislature. Still, the Senate is widely perceived to be leaps and bounds above the Assembly in prestige and power, so it’s a big upgrade for the six legislators.
Four legislators died or retired early
In addition to the 37 legislators who won’t be back in their current roles next year, there are another four who already left midway through this past legislative session.
Two of them were for sad reasons. Assemblyman Ron Dancer (R-Plumsted) died in July 2022 and was replaced by Jackson Councilman Alex Sauickie, while State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) resigned in August 2022 due to health issues and was succeeded by Irvington Council President Renee Burgess; Rice died a few months later.
The other two moved on to different roles: State Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Oxford) as Warren County Surrogate in November 2022, and Caputo as a member of the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Board of Directors in March 2023. They were replaced by Doug Steinhardt and Yustein, respectively.
Crédito: Link de origem
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