Donald W. Norcross (born December 13, 1958) is an American politician and labor leader who is the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for in South Jersey. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Norcross was first elected to this congressional seat in 2014, following the resignation of

Rob Andrews Robert Ernest Andrews (born August 4, 1957) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative for from 1990 to 2014. The district included most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County. Early life, ...

. His district covers much of the New Jersey side of the Philadelphia metro area, including Camden, Cherry Hill, Lindenwold, and

Glassboro Glassboro is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 18,579, ...

. Before entering electoral politics, Norcross was involved in the leadership of the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, a ...

Local 351 and was president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. He was elected to the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

in 2009, but shortly after his term began in January 2010, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the

New Jersey State Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

, where he remained until his election to the House of Representatives. For the

117th United States Congress The 117th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., ...

, Norcross is a member of the committees on

Armed Services A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

as well as Education and Labor. He is a member of the

Congressional Progressive Caucus The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a congressional caucus affiliated with the Democratic Party in the United States Congress. The CPC represents the most left-leaning faction of the Democratic Party. " e Congressional Progressive Cau ...

and the

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a moderate-to-conservative approach to fiscal matters. As of ...

, and is a founding member of the Bipartisan Building Trades Caucus.

Early life and education

Norcross was born on December 13, 1958 in Camden, the son of George E. Norcross Jr. and the brother of George E. Norcross III and John C. Norcross. He and his three brothers were raised in Pennsauken Township. He graduated from

Camden County College Camden County College (CCC) is a public community college in Camden County, New Jersey. Camden County College has its main campus in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, with satellite locations in Camden, Cherry Hill and Sicklerv ...

with a degree in

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

, and attended

Rutgers University-Camden Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. He was raised in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

faith.

Career

In 1980, Norcross served as an apprentice in the

, eventually becoming assistant business manager of the IBEW Local 351. A former president of the Southern New Jersey Building Trades Council, he served as president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council for 16 years.Profile
norcross.house.gov; accessed November 17, 2014. Norcross and his running mate, Camden City Council President

Angel Fuentes Angel Fuentes (born August 2, 1961) is an American Democratic Party politician who was elected to serve in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2009 until June 2015, where he represented the 5th legislative district. Fuentes was the president ...

, were elected to the Assembly in 2009 after Democrat incumbents

Nilsa Cruz-Perez Nilsa Cruz-Perez (born January 21, 1961) is an American Democratic Party politician who was sworn into office to represent the 5th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate on December 15, 2014, to fill the vacant seat of Donald Norcross. ...

and Joseph J. Roberts both retired. Shortly thereafter, Norcross was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by

Dana Redd Dana L. Redd (born March 7, 1968) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Mayor of Camden, from 2010 to 2018. Redd served in the New Jersey Senate from January 8, 2008, to January 5, 2010, representing the 5th Legislative Distri ...

, who was elected mayor of Camden. Norcross won the Senate special election in 2010 to finish out the term, then was reelected to the New Jersey Senate in 2011 and 2013.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014

On February 4, 2014, South Jersey Congressman

announced he would resign from Congress by the end of the month, and he did so on February 18."N.J. Democrat Rob Andrews to resign from Congress"
washingtonpost.com; accessed November 17, 2014. Norcross announced his candidacy on February 5, and within a week, he was endorsed by every New Jersey congressional Democrat, State Senate President

Stephen Sweeney Stephen M. Sweeney (born June 11, 1959) is an American politician and labor leader who served in the New Jersey Senate from 2002 to 2022, representing the 3rd legislative district. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 114th President o ...

, General Assembly Majority Leader

Louis Greenwald Louis D. Greenwald (born March 11, 1967) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 6th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since taking office on January 9, 1996. He has served as the Assembly Majo ...

, Mayor of Camden

, U.S. Senator

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. se ...

, and former Governor

Jim Florio James Joseph Florio (August 29, 1937 – September 25, 2022) was an American politician who served as the 49th governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. He was previously the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district from ...

(who represented the 1st from 1975 to 1990).Rob Andrews to leave Congress
philly.com; accessed November 17, 2014.

Tenure

Women's March on New Jersey 1 21 17 - 31608724104

Norcross won the Democratic primary—the real contest in what has long been the only safe Democratic district in South Jersey—with 72% of the vote. He ran in two elections on November 4: a special election for the balance of Andrews's term, and a regular election for a full two-year term. He easily won both over Republican challenger

Garry Cobb Garry Wilbert Cobb (born March 16, 1957 in Carthage, North Carolina) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the U ...

. He was sworn in on November 12 by House Speaker John Boehner. Since he was added to the House roll on that date, he gained more seniority than other members of the House freshman class of 2014. Soon after his election, Norcross was appointed assistant whip, a role he reprised after his 2016 reelection. He now serves in a number of leadership roles in the Democratic Caucus, including co-chair of the Rebuilding America Task Force, member of the Steering and Policy Committee, and member of the Communications Committee. He is also the co-founder of the Bipartisan Building Trades Caucus and vice chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, and was appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Pension Security.

Hot mic incident

On June 24, 2021, during a remote

United States House Committee on Education and Labor The Committee on Education and Labor is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. There are 50 members in this committee. Since 2019, the chair of the Education and Labor committee is Robert Cortez Scott of Virginia. H ...

meeting over

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

with

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

Miguel Cardona Miguel Angel Cardona (born July 11, 1975) is an American educator and is currently serving as the 12th United States Secretary of Education under President Joe Biden since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was confirmed by the U.S. S ...

, Representative

Bob Good Robert George Good (born September 11, 1965) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative in Virginia's 5th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. Early life and education Good was born in Wilkes-Barre, P ...

was questioning Cardona when someone interrupted by shouting "racist!", while Norcross's name flashed on the screen, leading participants to believe that Norcross made the remark; a later report from

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

explicitly attributed the outburst to Norcross. A letter signed by every Republican member of the committee demanded an apology from Committee Chairman Bobby Scott for what they considered a "slander" and a "smear" against Good. Scott responded by calling the outburst "inappropriate" and "out of order". Norcross did not publicly address the incident.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Armed Services ** Subcommittee on Strategic Forces ** Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces *

Committee on Education and the Workforce The Committee on Education and Labor is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. There are 50 members in this committee. Since 2019, the chair of the Education and Labor committee is Robert Cortez Scott of Virginia. Hi ...

** Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions *House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee *House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee *Joint Select Committee on Pension Security

Caucus memberships

*Founding member of the Bipartisan Building Trades Caucus *Vice Chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic *

* Blue Collar Caucus *

Veterinary Medicine Caucus The Congressional Veterinary Medicine Caucus is a Congressional Member Organization within the United States Congress and is officially recognized by the Committee on House Administration. Information and purpose According to the Caucus's offici ...

Personal life

Norcross is married to Andrea Doran, an echocardiographer. They have two children. Norcross also has a third child, Donald Jr., by his first wife, Nancy. His brother

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

is a New Jersey Democratic leader and businessman. He has another brother,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, a psychologist, author, and professor at the

University of Scranton The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took t ...

. Norcross lives in Camden.

Electoral history

New Jersey State Senate

U.S. House of Representatives

Notes

References

External links

Congressman Donald Norcross
official U.S. House website
Donald Norcross for Congress
official campaign website * * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Norcross, Donald 1958 births 21st-century American politicians American electricians Camden County College alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey Living people Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Party New Jersey state senators People from Pennsauken Township, New Jersey Politicians from Camden, New Jersey Trade unionists from New Jersey