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New Jersey State Legislature

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New Jersey State Legislature

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General information
Type:   State legislature
Term limits:   None
Session start:   January 14, 2025
Website:   Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:   Nicholas Scutari (D)
House Speaker:  Craig Coughlin (D)
Majority Leader:   Senate: Teresa Ruiz (New Jersey) (D)
House: Louis Greenwald (D)
Minority Leader:   Senate: Anthony M. Bucco (R)
House: John DiMaio (R)
Structure
Members:  40 (Senate), 80 (General Assembly)
Length of term:   4 years (Senate), 2 years (General Assembly)
Authority:   Art Article IV, New Jersey Constitution
Salary:   $49,000/year
Elections
Last election:  November 7, 2023
Next election:  November 4, 2025
Redistricting:  Commission

The New Jersey State Legislature is the state of New Jersey's legislative branch, seated in the New Jersey State House at the state's capital, Trenton. The Legislature is bicameral, consisting of two houses: the New Jersey General Assembly and the New Jersey Senate.

New Jersey has a Democratic trifecta. The Democratic Party controls the office of governor and both chambers of the state legislature.

See also: New Jersey House of Representatives, New Jersey State Senate, New Jersey Governor

Senate

The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature. It consists of 40 Senators.

As of the 2020 Census, New Jersey state senators represented an average of 232,362 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 220,188 residents.

Senators must be 30 years of age or older, must have lived in the state a minimum of four years, and must live in the district represented.

Senators serve four-year terms, except in the first term of a new decade, which only lasts for two years. The "2-4-4" cycle was put into place so that Senate elections can reflect the changes made to the district boundaries on the basis of the decennial United States Census. (If the cycle were not put into place, then the boundaries would sometimes be four years out of date before being used for Senate elections. Rather, with the varied term, the boundaries are only two years out of date). Thus elections for Senate seats take place in years ending with a "1," "3" or "7" (e.g., 2011, 2013 and 2017 this decade).

Interim appointments are made to fill vacant legislative seats by the county committee or committees of the party of the vacating person. The office is on the ballot for the next general election (regardless if all other Senate seats are up in that year, such as in years ending with a "5" or "9," such as 2015 and 2019 this decade), unless the vacancy occurred within 51 days of the election. Then the appointment stands until the following general election.

Party As of September 2025
     Democratic Party 25
     Republican Party 15
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 40

Click here for a list of members of this chamber.

Democrats won control of the New Jersey State Senate in 2003. In 2023, they won a 25-15 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the New Jersey Senate following every general election from 1991 to 2023. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

New Jersey State Senate election results: 1991-2023

Party 91 93 97 01 03 07 11 13 17 21 23
Democrats 13 16 16 20 22 23 24 24 25 24 25
Republicans 27 24 24 20 18 17 16 16 15 16 15

See also

Elections New Jersey State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ NJ.gov, "2021 Primary Election Timeline," accessed January 22, 2021
  2. ↑ NJ.gov, "2021 Primary Election Timeline," accessed January 22, 2021
  3. ↑ New Jersey Secretary of State, "2017 Primary Election Timeline," accessed March 21, 2017
  4. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official List, Candidate for State Senate for Primary Election, June 6, 2017," accessed April 13, 2017
  5. ↑ New Jersey Secretary of State, "2017 Primary Election Timeline," accessed March 21, 2017
  6. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly for Primary Election, June 6, 2017," accessed April 13, 2017
  7. ↑ New Jersey Department of Elections, "2015 Primary Election Timeline," accessed February 2, 2015
  8. ↑ NY Times, "Standoff Ends in Budget Deal for New Jersey," July 3, 2017
  9. ↑ NBC New York, "Gov. Christie Orders New Jersey Government Shutdown Amid Budget Impasse," July 1, 2017
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Politico, "Christie signs N.J. budget, ending 3-day government shutdown," July 3, 2017
  11. ↑ Law 360, "New Jersey Legislation And Regulation To Watch In 2015," accessed January 21, 2014
  12. ↑ www.nj.com, "New N.J. Legislature sworn in as Democrats focus on taxes, Hurricane Sandy," accessed January 15, 2014
  13. ↑ Wall Street Journal, "Sandy Sets New Agenda for Christie ," January 6, 2013
  14. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2011 Legislative Sessions Calendar," accessed June 6, 2014(Archived)
  15. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2010 Legislative Sessions Calendar," accessed July 7, 2014(Archived)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 National Association of State Budget Officers, "Budget Processes in the States, Spring 2021," accessed January 24, 2023
  17. ↑ The deadline may be extended for new governors with the agreement of the state legislature.
  18. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Separation of Powers: Executive Veto Powers," accessed January 26, 2024
  19. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
  20. ↑ New Jersey Constitution, "Article IV, Section II," accessed February 2, 2023
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 All About Redistricting, "New Jersey," accessed May 6, 2015
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 New Jersey Monitor, "Democrats, GOP agree on new legislative map for N.J.," February 18, 2022
  23. ↑ Insider NJ, "Redistricting Commission Finalizes Legislative Map by 9-2 Vote," February 18, 2022
  24. ↑ Barone, M. & McCutcheon, C. (2013). The almanac of American politics 2014 : the senators, the representatives and the governors : their records and election results, their states and districts. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
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