Diversity Triumphs In Essex County’s State Races: 2023 Election

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A new roster of state lawmakers, possibly the most diverse in New Jersey, is on the brink of taking office in Essex County after the 2023 general election.

Essex County, which is overwhelmingly composed of Democratic Party voters, was a key battleground for several races in the Statehouse on Tuesday:

• District 27 – Livingston, Millburn, Montclair, Roseland and West Orange in Essex County; Clifton in Passaic County
• District 28 – Irvington, Maplewood, Newark and South Orange in Essex County; Hillside in Union County
• District 29 – Newark in Essex County; East Newark and Harrison in Hudson County
• District 34 – Belleville, Bloomfield, East Orange, Glen Ridge, Nutley and Orange in Essex County
• District 40 – Caldwell, Essex Fells, Fairfield, North Caldwell, Verona and West Caldwell in Essex County; Franklin Lakes, Ridgewood and Wyckoff in Bergen County; Hawthorne, Little Falls, Totowa, Wayne and Woodland Park in Passaic County

In Essex County, with the majority of districts reported as of Wednesday morning, a total of 87,966 ballots were cast among 572,840 registered voters: a turnout of about 15.36 percent.

According to election data released in October, there were 296,902 registered Democrats in Essex County as opposed to 59,756 Republicans – nearly five Democrats for each of their GOP peers.

The advantage of numbers worked to Democrats’ advantage in the 27th, 28th, 29th and 34th districts, where Democratic Party candidates for the senate and assembly saw a clean sweep, according to unofficial election results.

• Election Results For NJ-27: Wins For McKeon, Bagolie, Collazos-Gill
• Election Results For NJ-28: Burgess, Tucker, Hall Declared Winners
• Election Results For NJ-29: Ruiz, Pintor Marin, Speight Are Winners
• Election Results For NJ-34: Timberlake, Venezia, Morales Win

However, the Republican Party ticket bucked the trend in the 40th district, where Kristin Corrado is being projected as the winner in the senate, and Christopher DePhillips and Al Barlas were declared winners in the assembly.

• Republicans Keep State Seats In NJ-40: Unofficial Election Results

If Tuesday’s projected results stand up, the newly elected set of legislators in Essex County will be majority-women and majority-people of color, making it the most diverse county delegation in state history, the New Jersey Globe reported.

Four of the five senators representing the above Essex County towns would be women, three of whom are women of color. In the assembly, eight will likely be people of color, and seven will be women. These numbers include the 40th district, which would count Corrado and Barlas, a Muslim born in Pakistan, the Globe reported.

The 28th and 29th districts would have a special distinction: both would continue to be the only two Legislative districts in New Jersey with all-female representatives. And the 28th district would be the first in state history to be represented entirely by Black women.

The area recently lost a female state lawmaker, with longtime Assemblywoman Mila Jasey announcing her retirement earlier this year. Read More: Essex County Lawmaker Mila Jasey Will Retire From NJ Assembly

Essex County is also bidding farewell to two other longtime Legislature members – both white men – who have served in Trenton for decades: Assemblyman Thomas Giblin and Sen. Richard Codey.

Giblin, 76, announced his retirement from the New Jersey Assembly in March after nearly two decades representing the 34th district. Read More: Tom Giblin Retiring From NJ Assembly, Won't Seek Re-Election

Codey – a former governor of New Jersey – emerged victorious in the 2023 primary election against another Democratic Party lawmaker, Sen. Nia Gill. However, he chose to retire after his victory in the primary. The party later nominated John McKeon to take his place in the 27th district. Read More: Richard Codey Is Retiring From NJ Senate: 'A Tough Day For Me'

This is the first general election that is being held using the 2023 Legislative district map that was approved last year. The redistricting effort – done once every 10 years –shuffled some towns around, putting them in different districts and giving them new elected representatives in the Statehouse. Read More: NJ's Electoral Maps Will Be Redrawn (Here’s What That Means)

According to a recent report from the Center for American Women and Politics, white men are “by far the most overrepresented group in New Jersey’s political offices.”

“While making up just 27 percent of the population, white men hold half or more of elected positions at every level of office for which we collected race data,” said researchers at the center, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

“Because of the extreme overrepresentation of white men, women and people of other racial and ethnic groups remain significantly underrepresented in New Jersey politics,” researchers said.

“Across all levels of office for which we have race data, people of every gender and race/ethnicity combination besides white men are underrepresented in at least one level of office,” the center continued, adding that Asian American women and Latinas are underrepresented “at all levels of office.”

Women as a whole are likewise underrepresented at every level of office in New Jersey, researchers said.

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