New Jersey's 27th legislative district is one of 40 in the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

. The district includes the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

municipalities of Livingston, Millburn, Roseland, Montclair, and West Orange; and the

Passaic County Passaic County ( or ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the county was the state's eighth-most-populous county,

municipality of Clifton.

Demographic characteristics

As of the 2020 United States census, the district had a population of 233,779, of whom 180,070 (77.0%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 144,266 (61.7%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 30,118 (12.9%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 521 (0.2%) Native American, 30,448 (13.0%) Asian, 76 (0.0%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 9,681 (4.1%) from some other race, and 18,669 (8.0%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 23,424 (10.0%) of the population. The 27th district had 189,871 registered voters as of December 1, 2021, of whom 67,129 (35.4%) were registered as unaffiliated, 82,983 (43.7%) were registered as Democrats, 38,706 (20.4%) were registered as

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, and 1,053 (0.6%) were registered to other parties. The district includes a number of comparatively wealthy communities in Western Essex County, as well as a number of relatively poor areas close to Newark. The 27th district had one of the lowest percentages in the state of registered Republicans, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a more than 2–1 margin.

Political representation

The legislative district overlaps with 10th and 11th congressional districts.

Apportionment history

In the original creation of the 40-district legislative map in 1973, the 27th district consisted of the northern Essex County municipalities of Nutley, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Cedar Grove,

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Caldwell, and Essex Fells. For the 1981 redistricting, the 27th consisted of the four municipalities of

The Oranges The Oranges () are a group of four municipality, municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word ''Orange'' in their name. The four municipalities are Orange, New Jersey, Orange, East Orange, New ...

: South Orange, West Orange,

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

, and

East Orange East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

and a small sliver of the North Ward of Newark. In the next redistricting in 1991, Montclair was added to the district and some Newark wards were removed. With declining population through western Essex County, most of that side of the county made up the 27th district following the 2001 redistricting including Maplewood, Livingston, Fairfield Township, and

The Caldwells The Caldwells are a group of three municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word ''Caldwell'' in their name. All of these communities are named after the Reverend James Caldwell (clergyman), James ...

. East Orange and the portions of the North Ward of Newark were removed but a small portion of Upper

Vailsburg, Newark Vailsburg is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Part of the West Ward, its elevation is . , Vailsburg had a population of 34,348. The Vailsburg section of Newark is on a hill which closely a ...

was included in the district this decade. Changes to the district made as part of the New Jersey Legislative reapportionment in 2011 removed the district's share of Newark while adding Millburn in Essex County, and the Republican-leaning Morris County municipalities of Chatham Township, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover Township, Harding Township and Madison. This made the district slightly more Republican than its predecessor. Shifted out of the district were Fairfield Township, North Caldwell and

West Caldwell West Caldwell is a township located in the West Essex area in northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located approximately west of Manhattan and northwest of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the townsh ...

(to the 26th district) and Orange (to the 34th district). Following the reapportionment in 2021, all of the municipalities in Morris County were removed from the district, while the

municipality of Clifton was shifted from its longtime home in the 34th district. Montclair was shifted to the district for the first time since 2001. In the 2023 elections, the first held under the 2021 reapportionment, incumbent Senator

Richard Codey Richard James Codey (born November 27, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the New Jersey Senate from 1982 to 2024 and as the President ...

defeated incumbent 34th district Senator

Nia Gill Nia H. Gill (born March 15, 1948) is an American attorney and Democratic Party politician, who represented the 34th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate from 2002 to 2024. She ran unsuccessfully as a candidate in the June 2012 primary ...

in the Democratic primary. However in August, Codey announced his retirement at the end of the term. Assemblyman

John McKeon John McKeon (March 29, 1808, Albany, New York – November 22, 1883, New York City) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. From 1835 to 1837, and 1841 to 1843, he served two non-consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representative ...

was selected to replace Codey on the November ballot while Livingston councilwoman Rosy Bagolie replaced McKeon as a Democratic nominee for Assembly. Original primary winner Alixon Collazos-Gill planned to drop out as well in August with her husband, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, expected to replace her, but she reversed her decision later that month. Both women won the general election.

Election history

Election results

Senate

General Assembly

References

{{NewJerseyLegislatureDistricts Essex County, New Jersey Morris County, New Jersey 27