Jamel Holley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theNew Jersey General Assembly from the20th District | |
| In office January 21, 2015 – January 11, 2022 Serving with Annette Quijano | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Cryan |
| Succeeded by | Reginald Atkins |
| Mayor ofRoselle, New Jersey | |
| In office January 1, 2012 – January 21, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Garrett Smith |
| Succeeded by | Christine Dansereau |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jamel Curtis Holley (1979-09-13)September 13, 1979 (age 45) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence(s) | Roselle, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Website | www |
Jamel Curtis Holley (born September 13, 1979) is an AmericanDemocratic Party politician from the state ofNew Jersey, who served in theNew Jersey General Assembly representing the20th Legislative District from 2015 to 2022. He is the firstAfrican American to represent the district, serving out the unexpired term of former Assemblyman and now State SenatorJoseph Cryan, and formerly served as councilman and then mayor ofRoselle, New Jersey; at age 32, he was theborough's youngest-ever mayor.[1][2][3] In 2021, Holley unsuccessfully challenged Cryan in the June 2021 New Jersey State Senate primary, losing by 29 points. Two years later, Holley attempted a comeback and unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Mayor Donald Shaw in the Roselle Mayoral Democratic primary and lost by 2 points.
Holley graduated fromAbraham Clark High School in Roselle in 1997, received aBachelor of Science inCriminal Justice fromNew Jersey City University in 2002, and earned aMaster of Public Administration fromKean University in 2006.[2][3] In 2001, he was appointed as Chief of Staff to Neil M. Cohen ofNew Jersey's 20th Legislative District,[3] the youngest Chief of Staff for any of New Jersey's 120 legislators.
He works forIrvington as the Director of Public Works under Mayor Tony Vauss.[4]
On November 2, 2004, Holley won the General Election for Councilman at Large in the Borough of Roselle, becoming Union County's youngest Councilman at age 25. Commissioned by theNew Jersey Democratic State Committee to serve as a committee member at the2004 Democratic National Convention, he won re-election to his at-large seat following year.[3][2] He made history by officiating the first gay wedding in New Jersey "forever cementing himself into the annals of queer liberation."[5]
Holley was elected Mayor of the Borough of Roselle in November 2011, becoming Roselle's youngest mayor in its 117-year history.[3] He ran unopposed for mayor after defeating two-term Mayor Garrett Smith in the Borough's Democratic primaries in June,[1] despite Smith having the support of U.S. CongressmanDonald M. Payne ofNew Jersey's 10th District.[6] Holley's running mates were then-Councilman-elect Randy Sandifer and then-Councilman Yves. F. Aubourg,[1][3] Mayor Holley began his term on January 1, 2012 and was officially inaugurated on January 6, at age 32.[1] He joined nearly 50 other Union County Democrats to endorseNewark MayorCory Booker forhis bid for the U.S. Senate in 2013, and supportedRaymond Lesniak's successful bid for senate reelection in New Jersey's 20th District.[7][8]
After the acquittal ofGeorge Zimmerman in theTrayvon Martin murder trial, Mayor Holley and Roselle's Borough Council submitted a formal plea to PresidentBarack Obama andU.S. Attorney GeneralEric Holder to investigate alleged violations of civil rights relating to the 2012 fatal shooting. Roselle was the first Union County municipality to appeal to the Obama administration for further examination of the case after Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.[9]
Holley was unanimously chosen by Democratic committee members of the 20th district to fill the Assembly seat ofJoseph Cryan, who resigned in 2015 to become the Union County Sheriff.[10] He has since won two additional two-year terms in the Assembly, serving with Democratic running mateAnnette Quijano.[11]
Holley announced in January 2021 that he would challengeJoseph Cryan in the June 8, 2021 primary for New Jersey State Senate.[12] He lost the primary to Cryan by a wide margin.[13]
In 2009, Holley was charged with tampering with ballots in a primary election contest, a third-degree crime which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.[14][15] The charge was the result of an investigation by the Official Corruption Bureau of the New Jersey State Police.[14] Holley waived his right to indictment by a grand jury and agreed to be charged by accusation to filling out 30 absentee ballots.[16] After several power brokers denounced the attorney general's office for charging Holley, a judge allowed Holley to enter a pre-trial intervention program to avoid jail time over the attorney general's objections.[16][17] At the time, the governor's office backed the attorney general and commented, "any elected official charged with public corruption should step down because they can’t effectively serve the public under the cloud of the charges."[16] In 2016, Roselle Mayor Christine Dansereau, Holley's successor, accused him of harassment and intimidation in a police report.[18] Dansereau announced her resignation for health reasons in June 2020.[19] Holley was quoted saying, "I wish her well as she moves on."
Holley supports theanti-vaccination movement[20][21][22][23] In February 2020, at a rally of anti-vaccine activists at theConnecticut State Capitol in opposition to a bill narrowing vaccine exemptions, Holley spoke in support of the anti-vaccination movement alongside attorneyRobert F. Kennedy Jr.; he hadwhipped against a similar bill in New Jersey in early 2020, which passed the Assembly but later stalled in the Senate.[24][25] Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Holley through fundraising speeches, and delivered remarks to Holley and other members of the NJ Legislative Black Caucus in January on "the harmful effects of vaccinations."[26]
Holley maintains an active social media presence and has directed accusatory tweets atBill Gates, saying he "...injected and caused harm to mulitple [sic] minority families in India and Africa.".[27][28]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Joseph Cryan (incumbent) | 7,804 | 62.5% | ||
| Democratic | Jamel Holley | 4,176 | 33.5% | ||
| Democratic | Jason F. Krychiw | 502 | 4.0% | ||
| Total votes | 12,482 | 100.0% | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 13,173 | 40.75 |  4.65 | |
| Democratic | Jamel Holley (Incumbent) | 12,437 | 38.48 | 6.12 | |
| Republican | Charles Donnelly | 3,496 | 10.82 | 1.7 | |
| Republican | Ashraf Hanna | 3,218 | 9.96 | 1.7 | |
| Total votes | '53,372' | '100.0' | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 24,221 | 45.4 |  6.0 | |
| Democratic | Jamel Holley (Incumbent) | 23,790 | 44.6 | 6.8 | |
| Republican | Joseph G. Aubourg | 5,361 | 10.0 | 1.7 | |
| Total votes | '53,372' | '100.0' | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 12,061 | 39.4 | 3.9 | |
| Democratic | Jamel Holley (Incumbent) | 11,568 | 37.8 | 1.5 | |
| Republican | Stephen E. Kozlovich | 3,593 | 11.7 | 2.8 | |
| Republican | Roger Stryeski | 3,398 | 11.1 | 2.6 | |
| Total votes | 30,620 | 100.0 | |||
Even in Union County's 20th District — the most hotly contested — incumbent Democratic Assembly members Jamel Holley and Annette Quijano easily prevailed over two sets of challengers: Tony Monteiro and Giuliano Farina; and Jorge Batista and Vivian Bell.
Holley said the vaccination bill "was a no-vote from the get-go." He said that he has "strong concerns about what is being inserted into these vaccinations."
New Jersey Assemblyman Jamel Holley, a Democrat, addressed the parents and children at the rally. "No government should be at the kitchen table making decisions for parents and children regarding medical decisions at all," Holley said.
| New Jersey General Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theNew Jersey General Assembly for the20th District January 21, 2015 – January 11, 2022 With:Annette Quijano | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Garrett Smith | Mayor ofRoselle, New Jersey January 1, 2012 – January 21, 2015 | Succeeded by Christine Dansereau |