Following the Nov. 5 election, legislators convened at the State House to select the leadership for the 2020-2021 legislative session.
In the Senate, current Senate President Steve Sweeney, Legislative District 3 (L.D. 3) will remain in his leadership post. Sweeney has led the Senate since 2010 and will now become the longest-serving Senate President in New Jersey history. Sen. Loretta Weinberg (L.D. 37) and Sen. Teresa Ruiz (L.D. 29) were re-elected as Majority Leader and President Pro Tempore, respectively. Sen. Paul Sarlo (L.D. 36) will serve as a Deputy Majority Leader and is expected to remain chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. (L.D. 21) will continue serving as Senate Minority Leader, a position he has held since 2007. Sen. Bob Singer (L.D. 30) will serve as Deputy Minority and Sen. Kristin Corrado (L.D. 40) will be Conference Leader. Sen. Steven Oroho (L.D. 24) will serve as Republican Budget Officer.
In the Assembly, Craig Coughlin (L.D. 19) was re-elected to his second term as Speaker. Assemblyman Lou Greenwald will extend his tenure as Majority Leader, a position he has held since 2012. Rounding out the Assembly Majority’s leadership team is Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin as Budget Chair (L.D. 29), Gordon Johnson (L.D. 37) as Speaker Pro Tempore, and Annette Quijano (L.D. 20) as Majority Conference Chair.
Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (L.D. 21) was re-elected Assembly Minority Leader. The caucus also elevated Nancy Munoz (L.D. 21) and John DiMaio (L.D. 23) to serve as conference leaders. Newly elected to join the senior leadership team are Ned Thomson (L.D. 30) as whip, and Hal Wirths (L.D. 24), who will replace DiMaio as Republican Budget Officer.
The “lame duck” portion of the current session is now underway and will run until the 2018-2019 legislative session ends on Jan. 13. The 219th session of the Legislature will begin the following day when both houses reorganize.