Jamel Curtis Holley (born September 13, 1979) is an American

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 ...

politician from the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, who served in 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 for ...

representing the 20th Legislative District from 2015 to 2022. He is the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to represent the district, serving out the unexpired term of former Assemblyman and now State Senator

Joseph Cryan Joseph P. Cryan (born September 1, 1961 in East Orange, New Jersey) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in the New Jersey Senate since 2018, representing the 20th Legislative District. He previously served in the New Je ...

, and formerly served as councilman and then mayor of

Roselle, New Jersey Roselle (, ) is a borough located in Union County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 21,085,borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

's youngest-ever mayor. In 2021, Holley unsuccessfully challenged Cryan in the June 2021 New Jersey State Senate primary, losing by 29 points.

Early life

Holley graduated from

Abraham Clark High School Abraham Clark High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from the borough of Roselle, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Roselle Public S ...

in Roselle in 1997, received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

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 (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

from

New Jersey City University New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a public university in Jersey City, New Jersey. Originally chartered in 1927, and known as Jersey City State College for 40 years of its history, New Jersey City University consists of the School of Business, ...

in 2002, and earned a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from

Kean University Kean University () is a public university in Union Township, Union County, New Jersey, Union and Hillside, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Kean University was founded in 1855 in Newark, New Jersey, as th ...

in 2006. In 2001, he was appointed as Chief of Staff to Neil M. Cohen of

New Jersey's 20th Legislative District New Jersey's 20th Legislative District is one of 40 in the New Jersey Legislature. As of the New Jersey Legislative Districts, 2011 apportionment, 2011 apportionment, the district includes the Union County, New Jersey, Union County municipalities ...

, the youngest Chief of Staff for any of New Jersey's 120 legislators. He works for Irvington Township as the Director of Public Works under Mayor Tony Vauss.

Political career

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 the

New Jersey Democratic State Committee The New Jersey Democratic State Committee (NJDSC) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New Jersey. LeRoy J. Jones Jr. is the chair and Peg Schaffer is the vice chair. Structure The NJDSC has a 13-member executive committe ...

to serve as a committee member at the

2004 Democratic National Convention The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North Car ...

, he won re-election to his at-large seat following year. He made history by officiating the first gay wedding in New Jersey "forever cementing himself into the annals of queer liberation."

Elections

Mayor of Roselle

Holley was elected Mayor of the Borough of Roselle in November 2011, becoming Roselle's youngest mayor in its 117-year history. He ran unopposed for mayor after defeating two-term Mayor Garrett Smith in the Borough's Democratic primaries in June, despite Smith having the support of U.S. Congressman

Donald M. Payne Donald Milford Payne (July 16, 1934 – March 6, 2012) was an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1989 until his death. He was a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompassed most of the city of Newark ...

of New Jersey's 10th District. Holley's running mates were then-Councilman-elect Randy Sandifer and then-Councilman Yves. F. Aubourg, Mayor Holley began his term on January 1, 2012 and was officially inaugurated on January 6, at age 32. He joined nearly 50 other Union County Democrats to endorse

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

Mayor

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. sena ...

for his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2013, and supported

Raymond Lesniak Raymond J. "Ray" Lesniak (born May 7, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1983 to 2018, where he represented the 20th Legislative District. Before entering New Jersey's upper house, th ...

's successful bid for senate reelection in New Jersey's 20th District. After the acquittal of

George Zimmerman George Michael Zimmerman (born October 5, 1983) is an American man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black boy, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder in '' Florid ...

in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, Mayor Holley and Roselle's Borough Council submitted a formal plea to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African America ...

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.

New Jersey Assembly

Holley was unanimously chosen by Democratic committee members of the 20th district to fill the Assembly seat of

, who resigned in 2015 to become the Union County Sheriff. He has since won two additional two-year terms in the Assembly, serving with Democratic running mate Annette Quijano.

Committees

*Homeland Security and State Preparedness *Health and Senior Services

2021 New Jersey State Senate election

Holley announced in January 2021 that he would challenge

in the June 8, 2021 primary for New Jersey State Senate. He lost the primary to Cryan by a wide margin.

Controversies

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. The charge was the result of an investigation by the Official Corruption Bureau of the New Jersey State Police. Holley waived his right to indictment by a grand jury and agreed to be charged by accusation to filling out 30 absentee ballots. 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. 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." In 2016, Roselle Mayor Christine Dansereau, Holley's successor, accused him of harassment and intimidation in a police report. Dansereau announced her resignation due to health reasons in June 2020. Holley was quoted saying, "I wish her well as she moves on."

Opposition to vaccines

Holley supports the

anti-vaccination movement Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...

, contrary to the

scientific consensus Scientific consensus is the generally held judgment, position, and opinion of the majority or the supermajority of scientists in a particular field of study at any particular time. Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at confe ...

that vaccines are safe and effective. In February 2020, at a rally of anti-vaccine activists at the

Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Hous ...

in opposition to a bill narrowing vaccine exemptions, Holley spoke in support of the anti-vaccination movement alongside attorney

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theories. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of President ...

; he had whipped against a similar bill in New Jersey in early 2020, which passed the Assembly but later stalled in the Senate. 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." Holley maintains an active social media presence and has directed accusatory tweets at

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, saying he "...injected and caused harm to mulitple icminority families in India and Africa.". Gates' charity has donated billions to efforts to eradicate

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and other diseases through vaccines and other programs.

Electoral history

New Jersey Assembly

References

External links

Jamel C. Holley (D)
- New Jersey Legislature Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Holley, Jamel 1979 births Living people Abraham Clark High School alumni African-American state legislators in New Jersey Kean University alumni Mayors of places in New Jersey New Jersey city council members New Jersey City University alumni People from Roselle, New Jersey Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly 21st-century American politicians Politicians from Union County, New Jersey American anti-vaccination activists 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people Place of birth missing (living people)