The district had high levels of income on average, but the communities of Dover, Mine Hill, Victory Gardens are well below the state average. The district had a high percentage of Hispanic residents, with Dover having some 60% of its residents as being of Hispanic origin.
Although traditionally thought of as aRepublican stronghold, the demographics of the district have trended moreDemocratic in recent years. At the time of the2011 legislative apportionment, Republicans held a 16,737 vote (12.0%) registration advantage.[6] By 2019, that advantage was down to 7,801 votes (4.9%).[7] The 25th district had 188,046 registered voters as of February 1, 2025, of whom 65,183 (34.7%) were registered asunaffiliated, 62,624 (33.3%) were registered asRepublicans, 58,332 (31.0%) were registered asDemocrats, and 1,907 (1.0%) were registered to other parties.[8]
The first iteration of the 25th district came in 1973 upon the creation of the statewide 40-district legislative map. The 25th at that time traveled fromMaplewood along the western border ofEssex County toFairfield Township (also includingNorth Caldwell,Passaic County'sWayne Township, andLincoln Park andPequannock Township in Morris County.[10] In the next redistricting in 1981, the district became based through the center of Morris County running fromHarding Township through Morristown, Dover, Boonton, andJefferson Township.[11] The shape of the district remained mostly the same in the 1991 redistricting picking up Mendham Township, Mount Arlington, and Roxbury Township, but losing Madison and Mountain Lakes.[12]
In the 1993 general election, former AssemblymemberGordon MacInnes defeated Republican incumbentJohn H. Dorsey by nearly 300 votes, making him the first Democrat in 18 years to win a legislative seat in Morris County.[17]
After Frelinghuysen took office in theUnited States House of Representatives in January 1995,Anthony R. Bucco was chosen by Morris County Republican county committee members to fill Frelinghuysen's vacant seat in the Assembly.[18] Bucco andMichael Patrick Carroll won the six-way June 1995 Republican primary to fill the district's two Assembly ballot spots, which became open when Albohn decided against running for re-election for a ninth term of office.[19] In this primary, the two winners defeated then Morris County FreeholderChris Christie and future AssemblymanRick Merkt.[20] In 1997,Anthony R. Bucco left the Assembly to successfully contest the Democratic-held Senate seat, with Merkt taking the Assembly seat vacated by Bucco.[21]
With Merktrunning for the Republican nomination for governor in 2009, the 25th district saw a contested Republican primary with incumbent Michael Patrick Carroll facingAnthony M. Bucco and the younger Bucco's brother-in-law Douglas Cabana, a member of the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Bucco and Carroll won the two ballot spots and were elected in the general election.[22]
In 2011, Michael Patrick Carroll and Tony Bucco retained their seats in the Assembly, defeating Democratic challengers Gale Heiss-Colucci and George Stafford, while Anthony R. Bucco retained his Senate seat over challenger Rick Thoeni.[23] In 2013, with no Democratic challengers and only token opposition, all three incumbents sailed to victory, earning over 80% of the vote.[24][25]
In 2017, in the closest race since the district was created in 1973, Anthony Bucco narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Lisa Bhimani by just over 2500 votes to retain his Senate seat.[26] In the Assembly race, Carroll and the younger Bucco defeated Democratic challengers Thomas Moran and Richard Corcoran by a similar margin.[27] In 2018, Carroll announced he would not seek re-election in 2019, choosing instead to run for Morris Countysurrogate.[28] On June 4, 2019, in the first contested Assembly primary in the district since 2009, Tony Bucco andBrian Bergen defeatedAura K. Dunn and John Barbarula to win the Republican nomination for General Assembly.[29]
SenatorAnthony R. Bucco died in September 2019. A special convention of the Republican County Committee members from the district met on October 15, 2019, and unanimously selected his son, Assemblyman Anthony M. "Tony" Bucco to fill his father's seat until a 2020 special election. Assemblyman Bucco resigned from the Assembly the day he was sworn into the Senate. Another special convention was then held made up of the Republican County Committee members, in order to fill the vacant Assembly seat. At a November 21 convention,Aura K. Dunn was chosen to serve until the end of the current legislative session, January 14, 2020.[30][31][32] Upon the start of the new session, Tony Bucco declined to be seated to the Assembly seat to which he was elected in November 2019 and a third convention was held on February 1, 2020, which unanimously selected Dunn to serve until a special election in November 2020.[33][34]
^viaAssociated Press."",The Press of Atlantic City, January 12, 1998. Accessed September 7, 2010. "Republican Rick Merkt won the Morris County seat left vacant by Bucco, and Republican Peter J. Biondi takes Kavanaugh's seat in Somerset County."
^Westhoven, William (February 1, 2020)."He used to pump gas as a newly arrived Turkish immigrant. Now, he's a Morris County freeholder".Daily Record. RetrievedMarch 8, 2020.The convention on Saturday began with a unanimous hand vote to return Aura Dunn to the Assembly. Dunn was selected for a temporary appointment at a November GOP convention to replace Anthony M. Bucco. Bucco vacated his District 25 Assembly seat after being elected in yet another GOP convention in October to replace his father, former Sen. Anthony R. Bucco, who died in office on Sept. 16.
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