Craig Coughlin
171st Speaker of theNew Jersey General Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office January 9, 2018
Preceded by	Vincent Prieto
Member of theNew Jersey General Assembly from the19th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 12, 2010 Serving with Yvonne Lopez
Preceded by	Joseph Vas
Personal details
Born	(1958-01-31)January 31, 1958 (age 68) Perth Amboy, New Jersey, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Letitia Coughlin
Children	3
Education	St. John's University (BS,JD)
Website	Legislative website

Craig John Coughlin (born January 31, 1958) is an AmericanDemocratic Party politician, who has represented the19th Legislative District in theNew Jersey General Assembly since 2010. He has served as the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018, making him the longest-serving Speaker in the history of the General Assembly.

Born inPerth Amboy, New Jersey, Coughlin grew up inSouth Amboy and graduated fromSouth Amboy Middle High School in 1976.^[1] Coughlin received aB.S. degree in 1980 fromSt. John's University and aJ.D. degree in 1983 fromSt. John's University School of Law.^[2]

He served on the Board of Education of theSouth Amboy Public Schools from 1983 to 1987. In 1987 he was elected to the South Amboy City Council, serving until 1993.^[3][4] He worked as an attorney before serving as a municipal court judge forEdison in 2005. He lived inWoodbridge Township, New Jersey and his children attended theWoodbridge Township School District.

In 2016, shortly after attaining the position ofAssembly Speaker, Coughlin formed the law firm Rainone Coughlin Minchello. Coughlin's firm includes four other attorneys who had worked for Decotiis FitzPatrick & Cole LLP, providing legal services to municipal and county governments totaling $14 million in FY2016. As of 2017, Coughlin's firm secured contracts with dozens of local municipalities totaling over $1 million.^[5]

Coughlin's law firm currently provides for-profit legal counsel to the Middlesex County Improvement Authority,^[6] and in 2020 acquired a $150,000 public contract withNorth Brunswick to fulfill the position of Municipal Attorney.^[7]

The Middlesex County Improvement Authority was awarded a $70 million contract byNJ Transit to manage theNorth Brunswick train station project. In a statement made toBloomberg News, Coughlin denied any conflicts of interest or "involvement with respect to Middlesex County’s or the improvement authority’s discussions with the state concerning North Brunswick transit village and never had any intention of performing any work in connection with this project."^[8]

He resigned from the court in 2009 to run for theGeneral Assembly seat vacated byJoseph Vas, after the Democratic candidate, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, dropped out of the race. On September 8, 2009, a special convention ofMiddlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mateJohn Wisniewski.^[9]

Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010.^[10] On November 13, 2017, was selected by the Assembly Democratic Conference to be Speaker of the Assembly starting in January 2018 when the new legislative term begins.^[11]

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in theNew Jersey Senate and two members in theNew Jersey General Assembly.^[12] The representatives from the 19th District for the2024—2025 Legislative Session are:^[13]

• SenatorJoe F. Vitale(D)
• Assemblyman Craig Coughlin(D)
• AssemblywomanYvonne Lopez(D)

New Jersey general election, 2017^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin (Incumbent)	25,708	35.6	0.0
	Democratic	Yvonne Lopez	24,830	34.4	1.9
	Republican	Deepak Malhotra	10,709	14.8	0.0
	Republican	Amarjit K. Riar	9,436	13.1	0.2
	Quality of Life	William Cruz	1,488	2.1	N/A
Total votes			72,171	100.0

New Jersey general election, 2015^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Wisniewski (Incumbent)	16,159	36.3	2.6
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin (Incumbent)	15,880	35.6	4.7
	Republican	Thomas E. Maras	6,597	14.8	3.7
	Republican	Jesus Varela	5,916	13.3	3.5
Total votes			'44,552'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2013^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Wisniewski (Incumbent)	24,404	33.7	0.3
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin (Incumbent)	22,393	30.9	1.7
	Republican	Stephanie Ziemba	13,406	18.5	1.7
	Republican	Arif Khan	12,151	16.8	0.2
Total votes			'72,354'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2009^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Wisniewski (Incumbent)	24,329	28.7	4.6
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin	22,226	26.3	0.7
	Republican	Richard W. Piatkowski	17,555	20.7	0.5
	Republican	Peter Kothari	16,846	19.9	0.3
Total votes			'84,633'	'100.0'

• Assemblyman Coughlin's legislative webpage,New Jersey Legislature

• 1958 births
• Living people
• New Jersey city council members
• Lawyers from Middlesex County, New Jersey
• Politicians from Perth Amboy, New Jersey
• Politicians from South Amboy, New Jersey
• Politicians from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
• School board members in New Jersey
• Speakers of the New Jersey General Assembly
• Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly
• St. John's University School of Law alumni
• 20th-century American lawyers
• 21st-century American lawyers
• 21st-century members of the New Jersey Legislature

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