The 26th district had 178,951 registered voters as of February 1, 2025 of whom 63,088 (35.3%) were registered asunaffiliated, 63,736 (35.6%) were registered asRepublicans, 50,389 (28.1%) were registered asDemocrats, and 1,738 (1.0%) were registered to other parties.[6]
The Asian population was above the state average, while there were relatively few African American and Hispanic residents in the district. The percentage of children receivingTemporary Assistance for Needy Families was the fourth lowest of any district and the percentage of the population age 65 and over was eighth highest. The district had one of the lowest percentages in the state of registered Democrats, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats by a more than 2–1 margin.[7][8]
The 26th district, when it was created in 1973, along with the 40-district legislative map, was based in the urban area aroundThe Oranges, specificallyWest Orange,Orange,East Orange, and a small sliver of the North Ward ofNewark.[10] In the 1981 redistricting, the district moved out of Essex County and was routed along the eastern border of Morris County fromChatham Township toKinnelon includingParsippany-Troy Hills andMorris Plains and northern Passaic County's West Milford and Ringwood.[11] Following the 1991 redistricting, Chatham Township was removed butMadison andMountain Lakes were added in Morris County; in Passaic County, however, West Milford and Ringwood were shifted to the40th district,Bloomingdale andPompton Lakes instead made up the Passaic portion of the district during this decade. West Caldwell,Caldwell, and Fairfield Township in Essex Count were now included within the district.[12]
Changes to the district made in the2001 legislative apportionment based on the results of the2000 United States census added Hanover Township (from the25th district) and West Milford Township (from the 40th district) and removed Madison Borough (to the21st district), Mountain Lakes (to the 25th district) and Fairfield Township and West Caldwell Township (to the 27th district).[13] Changes to the district made as part of the 2011 apportionment include the addition of Fairfield Township (from the27th district),Jefferson Township (from the 25th district), North Caldwell Borough (from the 27th district), Rockaway Township (from the 25th district), Verona Township (from the 40th district) and West Caldwell Township (from the 27th district). The 2011 apportionment removed Bloomingdale (to the39th district),Chatham Borough (to the21st district),East Hanover,Florham Park, and Hanover Township (to the 27th district),Pequannock Township, Pompton Lakes Borough, andRiverdale (to the 40th district).[14]
In the 1977 Democratic primary for the Senate seat, incumbentFrank J. Dodd faced opposition from AssemblymanEldridge Hawkins and tennis starAlthea Gibson, who was serving as state Athletic Commissioner. Dodd was supported by theEssex County Democratic organization under County Chairman Harry Lerner. With Gibson and Hawkins splitting the anti-organization vote, Dodd won the nomination and the subsequent general election.[15]
In 1983,Leanna Brown challenged her former running mate,James P. Vreeland, for the Republican nomination for State Senate in the Republican primary in what thePhiladelphia Daily News described as a "stunning upset" and was elected to the State Senate, becoming the first woman from the Republican Party to serve in the upper house of the State Legislature.[16][17] In 1993, Brown resigned from the Senate after she was appointed to theNew Jersey Casino Control Commission, initially to serve out the unexpired term of Charles J. Irwin. AssemblymemberRobert Martin was chosen to fill Brown's vacancy in the Senate.[18]
Carol J. Murphy was nominated in February 2001 to serve on theNew Jersey Board of Public Utilities by actinggovernor of New JerseyDonald DiFrancesco. In February 2001, a special convention of district Republicans choseJoseph Pennacchio to fill the General Assembly seat vacated by Murphy.[21]Alex DeCroce died on January 9, 2012, after collapsing in a bathroom inside the Statehouse, just moments after the 214th Legislature held its final voting session.[22] On January 25, 2012, his widow,BettyLou DeCroce, was selected by the Morris County Republican Committee to replace him in the Assembly until a November 2012 special election was held.[23] She won the special election and subsequent general elections running withJay Webber. On June 8, 2021, DeCroce lost her reelection bid to formerPompton Lakes councilman Christian Barranco.[24] Following the 2021 reapportionment, new municipalities comprised 58% of the reconfigured district.[25] Barranco, who since moved to Jefferson Township, ran for reelection in the25th district and incumbent 25th district AssemblymanBrian Bergen (a resident of Denville) ran successfully for reelection in the 26th in 2023.
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