ELECTED OFFICIALS

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. born November 20, 1942 is an American politician and the president of the United States. Biden defeated incumbent president Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election and was inaugurated as the 46th president on January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Biden served as the 47th vice president during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2017. He represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.

Kamala Harris born October 20, 1964 is an American politician who is the first female vice president of the United States and the junior United States senator from California. Prior to her election as a United States senator, Harris was Attorney General of California.

Governor Phil Murphy values religion, a strong work ethic, education, and civic awareness. Murphy has focused on a stronger and fairer New Jersey that works for every family. He has signed legislation putting New Jersey on the path to a $15 per hour minimum wage, enacted the nation’s strongest equal pay law to combat gender wage discrimination, ensured all workers have access to paid sick days, and expanded the state's Paid Family Leave provisions.

Governor Murphy knows the importance of supporting the workforce and the growth of innovative and start-up companies. Under his leadership, New Jersey is emerging as a leader in reversing climate change through offshore-wind energy technologies, banning offshore fossil-fuel exploration and drilling, to create a better future for the environment through clean and renewable energy sources. Governor Murphy has reversed prior years of budget cuts and increased funding for both New Jersey’s public schools and NJ TRANSIT. He restored state funding for Planned Parenthood and women’s health programs and family planning services. He has made New Jersey a national leader in tackling gun violence. He has expanded protections for immigrants and LGBTQ communities, among others.

Prior to taking office, Murphy has led and supported charities to help troubled teens and domestic abuse survivors. Nationally, he served proudly as New Jersey’s sole representative on the board of the NAACP, and as Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Governor Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy live in Monmouth County and are the parents of Josh, Emma, Charlie, and Sam.

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Lieutenant Governor Oliver has pioneered a successful career in public service advocating for social justice, women’s equality, and education. As the first woman of color to serve in a statewide elected office in New Jersey history, she serves as Lieutenant Governor and Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, where she has led efforts to strengthen and expand initiatives for fair and affordable housing, community revitalization, homelessness prevention, and local government services that support New Jersey’s 565 municipalities.

Under her leadership, the Department has expanded and leveraged a wide range of initiatives aimed at assisting distressed municipalities, including the federal Opportunity Zones tax incentive, the newly revived Main Street New Jersey program, Urban Enterprise Zones, the Neighborhood Preservation Program, and the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit program, which received increased funding. 

As Lieutenant Governor, she has signed multiple bills into law. A Caregiver Task Force helps identify ways to support people taking care of loved ones who are elderly or disabled. Public school students in grades 6 to 8 are required to receive financial literacy education. An equal pay for equal work initiative has strengthened employees by preventing employers from asking employees’ previous salary history and protect employees from wage theft.

Across her career, Lieutenant Governor Oliver has worked in the public, non-profit, and private sectors, and has taught numerous college courses. She has served as a member of both the East Orange Board of Education and the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. In 2003, she was elected to serve the 34th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly. In 2010 she became the first African-American woman in state history to serve as Assembly Speaker, and just the second in the nation’s history to lead a state legislative house.

A proud alumna of the Newark public school system, Lieutenant Governor Oliver graduated cum laude from Lincoln University, and received her Master of Science Degree in Community Organization, Planning and Administration from Columbia University. She is a proud 40-plus-year resident of East Orange where she treasures her time with her 91-year-old mother, who has always encouraged her to be a critical thinker while fostering her passion for helping people through effective public policy.

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Cory attended Stanford University on a football scholarship. He mentored middle school students in East Palo Alto. He studied at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and graduated from Yale Law School in 1997. Instead of going into law, Cory moved into a public housing project in Newark and teamed up with other tenants to take on a slumlord accused of intentional neglect of the property and won. He drew attention to the violence that plagued the city and in 2006, he was elected mayor with 72 percent of the vote. Two decades later, Cory still lives in Newark’s Central Ward.

As mayor, Cory’s biggest challenges were curbing crime, reinvigorating a dwindling local economy, and raising morale across the city. He accomplished this by bringing together a diverse coalition of people to deliver real change for residents. Four years into Cory’s term, the 2010 Census showed the city’s population had grown for the first time in more than half a century.

As senator, Cory has written and championed bills aimed at addressing our broken criminal justice system, expanding economic opportunity, and fighting for equal justice. In 2018, the First Step Act, made meaningful reform to our criminal justice system and begins to reverse the injustices of mass incarceration. In 2019, he reintroduced the Marijuana Justice Act, which would legalize marijuana at the federal level and restore justice to those already convicted of marijuana related convictions that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color.

Cory is leading the fight for equal justice and opportunity for all Americans and continues to write legislation strengthening legal protections for diverse communities such as: LGBTQ Americans, communities of color, low-income communities, and indigenous communities. He has worked on expanding access to health care and is committed to addressing the impacts of climate change.

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Senator Bob Menendez is the son of Cuban immigrants raised in a tenement building in Union City that has become one of 100 United States Senators. He served as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 113th Congress. The Committee is one of the oldest and most revered in the Senate. He has a reputation as a fighter for New Jersey families who puts economic security ahead of powerful special interests.

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He was elected to Congress in 1992 and has given New Jersey a strong voice during critical negotiations on every issue. War and peace, jobs and the economy, education, health care, veterans issues, world affairs, transportation and housing are just a few of Senator Menendez's priorities. He led the fight in Congress to make sure New Jersey receives recovery funds to help communities rebuild after Superstorm Sandy, chaired Senate Banking Committee hearings to hold the administration accountable for getting  relief resources out of Washington, and passed landmark bipartisan legislation providing relief to homeowners hit with unreasonably high flood insurance premiums. He was one of eight Senators who wrote and fought for comprehensive immigration reform legislation that passed the Senate in 2013 with an overwhelming bipartisan show of support.

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While Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he established himself as a foreign policy leader. He has advocated for women, children and democracy activists in impoverished countries. He has led the Foreign Relations Committee to allow the President to use military force in Syria in September 2013, which led to the end of the use of chemical weapons against civilians. 

Bob has been widely recognized for his leadership on promoting safe and healthy families. He has championed legislation to support mothers suffering from postpartum depression, help families meet the challenges of autism, and keep young athletes safe from harm on the playing field. He serves on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and has championed increased consumer protection and corporate accountability, fairness in lending, affordable housing, and comprehensive approaches to community revitalization. He served as Chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development where he fought for smart growth, jobs for the 21st Century and updating our aging transportation system. As a member of the Finance Committee, he has sponsored legislation increasing access to health care, advocated for fairness in the tax code to help middle class families get college educations and be able to retire, and Bob has pushed for trade initiatives to ensure America’s global competitiveness.

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Bob received his B.A. from St. Peter's College in Jersey City and his law degree from Rutgers University. He currently lives in Paramus and has two children, Alicia and Robert.

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On January 11, 2022, Senator Nicholas Scutari was elected the 115th President of the New Jersey State Senate. He will lead the upper chamber for the 220th Legislative Session.

Nicholas P. Scutari was elected to the State Senate in 2003 to represent the 22nd District, which includes the Middlesex County municipalities of Dunellen and Middlesex, the Somerset County municipalities of Green Brook and North Plainfield, and the Union County municipalities of Clark, Fanwood, Linden, Plainfield, Rahway, Scotch Plains, and Winfield.

A lifelong Linden resident, Senator Scutari began his career in public service in 1994 when he was elected to the Linden Board of Education. Senator Scutari was elected to the Union County Freeholder Board in 1996. He served as Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman in 1998 and as Union County Freeholder Chairman in 1999. He is the youngest person ever to serve as Freeholder Chairman in Union County.

As Senator to the 22nd Legislative District, Senator Scutari has spearheaded several initiatives that benefit both the citizens within the 22nd district and the State of New Jersey as a whole. He is a strong advocate for insurance reform and has sponsored legislation to create a more consumer-friendly environment.

Another of Senator Scutari’s priorities is having a fair, competent, and qualified Judiciary in New Jersey. Senator Scutari was the longest serving Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in New Jersey history.  He continues to be committed to the thorough vetting and scrutiny of judicial nominees, cabinet nominations, and other gubernatorial appointments.

Senator Scutari recognizes the importance of caring for the ill and infirmed of our state. To that end, was the primary sponsor of the ‘New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act,’ which allows New Jersey citizens suffering from chronic and debilitating illnesses, for whom currently available treatments and medications have proven ineffective, to receive medicinal marijuana to treat and help alleviate their symptoms. Senator Scutari has been a long-standing opponent of draconian drug policies and this landmark piece of legislation served as a first step- in getting cannabis outside of the underground.

In 2021, Senator Scutari spearheaded legislation that would create the legal and regulatory framework for the cannabis industry in the state of New Jersey. This landmark legislation will help create thousands of jobs in a new industry sector while righting countless legal injustices that people have faced generationally.

Also, a strong advocate for quality education, Senator Scutari has supported a number of pieces of legislation that would provide funding and expand programs to ensure that New Jersey citizens receive the high-quality education they deserve.

Senator Scutari is a graduate of Linden High School where he was captain of the Varsity Wrestling Team.  He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Kean College in less than three years at the age of only 20. He received his Masters Degree in less that one year at Rutgers’s University at the age of 21.  He earned his Law Degree from Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School and was awarded the John D. Voelker Award as the school’s Outstanding Law Review Associate.

A practicing attorney with an office located in Linden, Senator Scutari is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Finally, Senator Scutari is also an Eagle Scout since 1984.

Craig J. Coughlin has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2010, where he represents the 19th Legislative District. He has served as the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018.

He has sponsored hundreds of bills in his tenure as Speaker protecting employees in the workplace, expanding health care, education, and fighting crime. 

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He worked as an attorney before serving as a municipal court judge for Edison Township in 2005. He resigned from the court in 2009 to run for the General Assembly. On September 8, 2009, a special convention of Middlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mate John Wisniewski.Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010.On November 13, 2017 was selected by the Assembly Democratic Conference to be Speaker of the Assembly in January 2018.

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