Dick Zimmer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's12th district | |
| In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Jim Courter |
| Succeeded by | Mike Pappas |
| Member of theNew Jersey Senate from the23rd district | |
| In office April 23, 1987 – January 3, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Walter E. Foran |
| Succeeded by | William E. Schluter |
| Member of theNew Jersey General Assembly from the23rd district | |
| In office January 12, 1982 – April 23, 1987 Serving with Karl Weidel | |
| Preceded by | Arthur R. Albohn James J. Barry Jr. |
| Succeeded by | William E. Schluter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Alan Zimmer (1944-08-16)August 16, 1944 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | December 31, 2025(2025-12-31) (aged 81) Flemington, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Education | Yale University (BA,LLB) |
Richard Alan Zimmer (August 16, 1944 – December 31, 2025) was an AmericanRepublican Party politician fromNew Jersey, who served in both houses of theNew Jersey Legislature and in theUnited States House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for theU.S. Senate from New Jersey in1996 and2008.
Zimmer was known for his sponsorship ofMegan's Law, a landmark criminal justice reform bill passed in response to the1994 murder of Megan Kanka. He was known for hisfiscal conservatism, opposing spending and taxes which he viewed as excessive and supporting thePersonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.
Richard Alan Zimmer was born on August 16, 1944, inNewark, New Jersey, to William and Evelyn Zimmer, the second of two children.[1] In his early years he was raised inHillside, New Jersey. His father, a physician, died of a heart attack when he was 3 years old. After his father's death, his mother moved from Hillside toBloomfield, New Jersey, where she supported the family by working as a clerk at theSunshine Biscuits warehouse. They lived in a Bloomfield garden apartment, which Zimmer called "the New Jersey equivalent of a log cabin."[2][3][4]
When Zimmer was 12 years old, his mother married Howard Rubin, aKorean War veteran with three children of his own.[1] The newly combined family moved toGlen Ridge, New Jersey, and Rubin worked at the post office there. Zimmer attendedGlen Ridge High School, where he was selected as the class speaker for his graduation ceremony. His mother, suffering from lymphoma, required paramedics to take her fromColumbia Presbyterian Hospital to the school auditorium on a stretcher to hear the address. She died several days later.[2]
Zimmer attendedYale University on a full academic scholarship and majored in political science, graduating in 1966. In the summer of 1965, he worked in the Washington, D.C. office ofClifford P. Case, after which he became active in Republican politics.[4] He went on to attendYale Law School, where he was an editor of theYale Law Journal.[4]
After receiving hisLL.B. in 1969, Zimmer worked as an attorney in New York andNew Jersey for several years, first forCravath, Swaine & Moore and then forJohnson & Johnson.[3]
After leaving Congress in 1997, he worked at thePrinceton office of thePhiladelphia-based law firmDechert Price & Rhoads.[5] From 1997 to 2000, Zimmer lectured atPrinceton University in theWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 2001, he joined theWashington, D.C. office ofGibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he wasof counsel.[6]
In 1973, he was elected to theCommon Cause National Governing Board, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group and think tank with the mission to make political institutions more open and accountable. From 1974 to 1977, he served as chairman of New JerseyCommon Cause. As chairman he successfully lobbied for New Jersey's Sunshine Law, which made government meetings open to the public. He also championedcampaign finance reform, working closely withThomas Kean, then a member of theNew Jersey General Assembly. Zimmer served as treasurer for Kean's 1975 reelection campaign.[3][4]
In 1978, Zimmer made his first bid for public office as a candidate forNew Jersey's 13th congressional district, located in the northwestern portion of the state. He sought the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic representativeHelen Stevenson Meyner. However, he withdrew from the race after four months, citing fundraising challenges. His withdrawal likely helpedWarren County prosecutorJim Courter win the Republican nomination overBill Schluter; Courter went on to defeat Meyner in the general election.[4]
In 1979, Zimmer was a candidate for theNew Jersey General Assembly in the23rd district, challenging Democratic incumbentBarbara McConnell. He was unsuccessful, finishing third behind McConnell and Republican incumbentKarl Weidel. In 1981, the 23rd district was reorganized to become more Republican, losingPrinceton Township andPrinceton. McConnell ran for the Democratic nomination for governor rather than seeking re-election, and Zimmer, who relocated toDelaware Township was handily elected to succeed her. He was elected easily in 1983 and 1985.[4]
In the Assembly, Zimmer was the prime sponsor of New Jersey's first farmland preservation law, resulting in the permanent preservation of 1,222 farms in the state. Zimmer also sponsored legislation creating the state'sradon detection and remediation program, which became a national model. He was chairman of the Assembly State Government Committee from 1986 to 1987.[7]
In 1987, following the death of state senatorWalter E. Foran, Zimmer won a special election to replace him in theNew Jersey Senate. He was elected to a full term in November unopposed.[3] In the Senate he served on the Revenue, Finance and Appropriations Committee.[7]
Zimmer was a staunch advocate ofdirect democracy, favoringinitiative and referendum reforms to allow citizens to place issues directly on the ballot via petition. However, by the time Republicans gained control of state government in 1994, he was no longer in the legislature, and his proposal was never approved.[4]
In 1990, Zimmer made his second campaign for theUnited States House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 12th district after Jim Courter decided not to seek re-election. In the Republican primary, Zimmer defeated formerNew York Giantswide receiverPhil McConkey and assemblymanRodney Frelinghuysen. In the general election, he defeated Democratic businesswoman Marguerite Chandler by a margin of 66 to 34 percent. After his district was redrawn to stretch acrossCentral Jersey toMonmouth County, Zimmer was re-elected in 1992 and 1994.[4][8][9][10]
Zimmer was best known for writingMegan's Law (U.S. Public Law 104–145), which requires notification when a convicted sex offender moves into a residential area.[1] It was named afterMegan Kanka, a seven-year-old New Jersey resident who was raped and murdered by her neighbor, who was a convicted sex offender. He also unsuccessfully introduced theNo Frills Prison bill, requiring the elimination of luxurious prison conditions.[4][10]
As a member of theWays and Means Committee, he sought the elimination of wasteful spending and undue taxation. He was ranked the most fiscally conservative member of the United States Congress three times by theNational Taxpayers Union and was designated a Taxpayer Hero byCitizens Against Government Waste every year he was in office.[7] He also advocated forurban enterprise zone legislation, the decriminalization of some drugs, a single-payer national health program modeled on the Canadian system, and personal savings plans for health insurance.[4]
Zimmer was also a member of theCommittee on Science, Space and Technology and theCommittee on Government Operations. As a member of theEnvironment Subcommittee, he introduced environmental risk-assessment legislation later incorporated in the 1996 amendments to theSafe Drinking Water Act and opposedoffshore drilling.[4][7]
Zimmer first considered running for United States Senate in 1994 against Democratic incumbentFrank Lautenberg. After former governor and Zimmer allyThomas Kean declined to run, Zimmer was a leading candidate, but when the newly inaugurated governorChristine Todd Whitman endorsed Assembly speakerChuck Haytaian, he declined to run.[4] Instead, Zimmer began lining up support to challengeBill Bradley for the state's other Senate seat in 1996.[11]
On August 16, 1995, Bradley announced that he would not seek reelection. Zimmer formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 1996, having already secured the endorsement of Whitman and other leading Republicans.[12][13] He won the Republican primary with 68 percent of the vote overPassaic Countyfreeholder Richard DuHaime and state senatorDick LaRossa.[14][15]
In the general election, Zimmer faced Democratic representativeRobert Torricelli. David Wald ofThe Star-Ledger called the 1996 campaign "noisy, vitriolic, and expensive," estimating its cost at over $25 million, which was very expensive for the time. Both candidates were harshly critical, with Zimmer calling Torricelli "foolishly liberal" and Torricelli tying Zimmer to House speakerNewt Gingrich. Zimmer's authorship of Megan's Law was also an issue in the campaign, as was gun control, with Torricelli winning a valuable endorsement from former Ronald Reagan aide and shooting victimJames Brady.[4] Public opinion polling generally suggested that Torricelli had a slight lead, with the final Rutgers-Eagleton poll showing a dead heat. Ultimately, Torricelli won comfortably by nearly 300,000 votes, aided byBill Clinton'slandslide victory in the state.[15]
Zimmer gave up his House seat to run for the Senate, completing his third term in office on January 3, 1997. He was succeeded byMike Pappas, who served a single term from 1997 to 1999. Pappas was defeated byRush Holt Jr. in 1998.
In 2000, Zimmer ran for his former seat in the House of Representatives. He faced Pappas in the Republican primary. Near the end of the campaign, an independent expenditure group backing Zimmer aired attack ads suggesting that Pappas's church was connected to theKu Klux Klan. Although Zimmer denounced the ads and they were heavily criticized by his own supporter, Tom Kean, they damaged Pappas's campaign. Zimmer won the primary with 62 percent of the vote.[4]
In the general election, theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee attacked Zimmer for opposing a bill they claimed would reduce instances of breast cancer by expanding access to mammograms. Given his mother's death from lymphoma during his childhood and his three sisters' diagnoses with breast cancer, Zimmer was personally hurt by the accusation. Despite Al Gore winning the district by over 16,000 votes in the presidential race, Holt defeated Zimmer by only 651 votes in the closest congressional race in New Jersey since 1956. After a late November recount slightly expanded Holt's margin, Zimmer conceded.[4][16]
In 2008, New Jersey Republicans struggled to recruit a candidate to challenge incumbentFrank Lautenberg. Their first choice, real estate developerAnne Evans Estabrook, withdrew after suffering a stroke, and their second choice, businessmanAndy Unanue, withdrew shortly after entering the race following criticism of his New York City residence and spending his entire three-week campaign on vacation inVail, Colorado.[17] On April 11, 2008, Zimmer entered the race for the Republican nomination after other choices, includingMehmet Oz andKip Bateman, declined. He was designated by the Unanue campaign to receive their ballot positions and after a short campaign, Zimmer won the Republican nomination with 46 percent of the vote over state senatorJoseph Pennacchio.[4][17]
General election polling initially suggested a competitive race between Zimmer and Lautenberg, who had faced a stiff primary challenge from representative Rob Andrews and faced criticism for his age.[18][19][20] However, Lautenberg outraised Zimmer by nearly $6 million and October polling showed Lautenberg with an insurmountable lead. Lautenberg declined to debate Zimmer until the last days of the campaign, when his victory appeared certain. Zimmer ultimately lost by nearly 500,000 votes, with the Lautenberg campaign buoyed by the strong performance of presidential nomineeBarack Obama.[4] Despite the loss, Zimmer received over 1.4 million votes, setting a record for most votes cast for a Republican candidate in New Jersey history for any office other than president.[21]
On March 11, 2010,Chris Christie appointed Zimmer chairman of the New Jersey Privatization Task Force, charged with developing plans to privatize certain state government operations as a cost-cutting measure.[22]
Zimmer was a consistent opponent and critic of PresidentDonald Trump. He endorsedJohn Kasich for the Republican nomination in 2016 and unsuccessfully ran to support Kasich as a delegate to the2016 Republican National Convention. He endorsed Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, in the general election. In 2020, Zimmer endorsedJoe Biden against Trump in thepresidential election.[4][23]
In February 2021, Zimmer announced he was running for theNew Jersey Senate in the16th district, planning to face off with Mike Pappas again in the primary. However, he dropped out later that month. His endorsement of Biden in 2020 was cited as making his candidacy nonviable among Republicans.[4][24][25]
Zimmer and his wife Marfy Goodspeed, whom he married in 1965, were longtime residents ofDelaware Township inHunterdon County, New Jersey.[1][14] They had two sons:Carl Zimmer, a science writer, andBenjamin Zimmer, a linguist and lexicographer.[7]
Zimmer died frommyelodysplastic syndrome inFlemington, New Jersey, on December 31, 2025, at the age of 81.[1][26]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 12th congressional district 1991–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromNew Jersey (Class 2) 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromNew Jersey (Class 2) 2008 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
