The 22nd district had 146,052 registered voters as of December 1, 2021, of whom 48,780 (33.4%) were registered asunaffiliated, 72,133 (49.4%) were registered asDemocrats, 23,134 (15.8%) were registered asRepublicans, and 2,005 (1.4%) were registered to other parties.[6]
The district had the eighth-highest percentage of African-American residents of all 40 districts statewide. The municipal tax rate was 11th highest and school taxes were 12th highest leading to one of the highest overall tax rates, after including rebates, which was the 7th highest in the state. Registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a 5-2 margin.[7][8]
When the 40-district legislative map was created in 1973, the 22nd district had an unusual shape as it weaved its way through the parts of Union County not covered by the20th,21st, and25th districts. The center of the 1973 district was Scotch Plains and included spurs toKenilworth,Chatham Township inMorris County viaBerkeley Heights, Plainfield, and Rahway.[10] Following the 1981 redistricting, the district became more straightforward with fewer prongs running from Winfield Township and comprising the remainder of western Union County (except Plainfield) and into westernEssex County up toCaldwell with a spur toMaplewood.[11] The 1991 district created in that year's redistricting became much more compact, comprising western Union County (again excluding Plainfield) but heading into Middlesex County's Dunellen, Morris County's Chatham Township and Passaic Township (renamedLong Hill Township in 1992) and Somerset County's Green Brook, North Plainfield,Warren Township, andWatchung.[12]
Facing challenges from the Democrats, the team ofPeter McDonough in the Senate andDonald DiFrancesco andWilliam J. Maguire in the Assembly won re-election in 1977.[13] McDonough resigned from the Senate in 1979; DiFrancesco won the Senate seat in a special election in November 1979 whileBob Franks and Maguire won election in the Assembly that year.[14]
In redistricting following the1990 United States census,Maureen Ogden was switched to the 21st district, where she won election to the Assembly, andRichard Bagger won the now-vacant ballot spot in the 22nd district.
Alan Augustine left office as of March 31, 2001, just several weeks before his death, due to health problems, and was succeeded byThomas Kean Jr.[17] As of January 21, 2001, DiFrancesco became the 51stGovernor of New Jersey afterChristine Todd Whitman left office to becomeAdministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, with DiFrancesco simultaneously holding his post as Senate President. In the2001 redistricting following the2000 United States census, several of the suburban, Republican-leaning municipalities in the district were replaced by Linden, Plainfield and Rahway, which gave the district a distinct Democratic tilt. DiFrancesco retired from the Legislature, Bagger and Kean were relocated to the 21st district, and the three legislative seats under District 22 were taken by DemocratsJoseph Suliga in the Senate andJerry Green (who previously representedDistrict 17) andLinda Stender in the Assembly.
Suliga did not run for re-election in 2003 after a scandal involving his alleged drunken sexual harassment of a woman inAtlantic City, New Jersey. He dropped out and entered rehabilitation for alcoholism and was replaced on the ballot and in the Senate by fellow Linden DemocratNicholas Scutari.[18]
Due to a scandal involving her husband applying for help fromHabitat for Humanity to aid in rebuilding their house on the Jersey Shore, Stender did not run for re-election in 2015.[19] Union County Democratic officials endorsed former Rahway MayorJames J. Kennedy over Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr as the successor; Green and Kennedy went on to win in the general election.[20]
Scutari, Green, and Kennedy were all re-elected in 2017, although Green did not attend any of the following legislative session due to a long illness. He died on April 18, 2018.[21][22] Democratic committee members in Middlesex, Somerset, and Union Counties selected Union County FreeholderLinda S. Carter as his replacement on May 19; she took her Assembly seat on May 24.[23][24]
^Bowman, Bill."Ex-governor's son swims upstream"Archived July 17, 2012, atarchive.today,Asbury Park Press, September 27, 2003. Accessed July 22, 2010. "Kean, who was appointed to the Assembly in March 2001 upon the resignation of the late Alan Augustine, won re-election in 2001. He was appointed to his 21st district Senate seat earlier this year after the resignation of Richard H. Bagger."
_D22_hl.svg)
5.8
5.8
0.0