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 Delawa ...

's 21st 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 ...

. As of the 2011 apportionment, the district includes the Morris County communities of Chatham Borough and Long Hill Township; the Somerset County municipalities of Bernards Township, Far Hills, Warren Township and Watchung; the Union County municipalities of Berkeley Heights, Cranford, Garwood,

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the ...

, Mountainside,

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

Roselle Park Roselle may refer to: * Roselle (plant), a species of hibiscus (''Hibiscus sabdariffa'') **A drink made from that plant, also called "Hibiscus tea" Roselle is the/a name of: ; People * Mike Roselle - American environmental activist and author ; ...

, Springfield Township,

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

and Westfield.

Demographic characteristics

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, the district had a population of 224,546, of whom 170,852 (76.1%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 160,014 (71.3%)

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

, 7,465 (3.3%)

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 ...

, 437 (0.2%) Native American, 26,753 (11.9%) Asian, 47 (0.0%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 8,611 (3.8%) from some other race, and 21,219 (9.4%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 26,156 (11.6%) of the population. The 21st District had 176,112 registered voters as of December 1, 2021, of whom 66,455 (37.7%) were registered as unaffiliated, 59,939 (34.0%) were registered as Democrats, 48,411 (27.5%) were registered as Republicans, and 1,307 (0.7%) were registered to other parties. The densely populated district is one of the wealthiest in the state, with the highest equalized property value and income on a per capita basis. Standardized test schools in the district's public schools were the highest of all districts statewide, and the district placed third in the percentage of 9th graders graduating from high school. Voter registration and turnout in the 21st District is among the highest in the state.

Political representation

For the 2022–2023 session, the district is represented in the State Senate by

Jon Bramnick Jon M. Bramnick (born February 24, 1953) is an American Republican Party politician, who has served in the New Jersey Senate since 2022, representing the 21st legislative district. He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly, repres ...

( R, Westfield) and in the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...

by Michele Matsikoudis (R,

) and Nancy Munoz (R,

). The district is located within the New Jersey's 7th, New Jersey's 10th, and New Jersey's 11th congressional districts.

Apportionment history

When the 40-district legislative map was created in 1973, the 21st District was originally in eastern Union County consisting of Elizabeth, Linden, and Winfield Township plus Carteret in Middlesex County. In the 1981 redistricting, the 21st district became based out of central Union County, centered about Kenilworth and inclusive of the municipalities that border Kenilworth plus Westfield, Garwood, Roselle, and Hillside. In the next redistricting in 1991, a major change occurred to the district's boundaries: It now consisted of northern Union County from Roselle Park and Union Township, then north into the west side of Essex County from Millburn to North Caldwell and Cedar Grove. After a single term in the Senate, Thomas G. Dunn was dropped by the Union County Democrats in 1977 and was replaced on the party line by Linden Mayor John T. Gregorio. Dunn ran as an independent and lost to Gregorio in the general election. Edward K. Gill, elected to the Assembly in 1981 after C. Louis Bassano ran for the Senate, had announced that he would not run for a third term in the Assembly shortly before his death in February 1985.Staff
"DEATHS ELSEWHERE"
''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pen ...

'', February 11, 1985. Accessed July 18, 2010. Peter J. Genova was elected in a special election to fill Gill's vacant seat. Joel Weingarten was elected to the Assembly in a November 1996 special election in which he defeated Democratic candidate Robert R. Peacock to fill the one year remaining on the vacant seat of Monroe Jay Lustbader, who had died in office in March 1996. Changes to the district made as part of the legislative redistricting in 2001, based on the results of the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 c ...

removed Kenilworth and Union Township (both to the 20th Legislative District)

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized Indian band in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, Eas ...

, Essex Fells, Livingston Township, North Caldwell Township and Roseland (all to the 27th Legislative District), Cedar Grove and

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

(both to the 40th Legislative District) and added Berkeley Heights Township, Chatham Township, Cranford Township, Garwood, Long Hill Township, Mountainside, New Providence, Warren Township, Watchung and Westfield (from the 22nd Legislative District), Harding Township (from the 25th Legislative District) and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

(from the 26th Legislative District). The 2011 apportionment added Chatham Borough (from District 26), Bernards Township (from

District 16 16th district may refer to: France *16th arrondissement of Marseille *16th arrondissement of Paris United States Congressional districts * California's 16th congressional district *Florida's 16th congressional district * Illinois's 16th c ...

), Far Hills (from District 16) and Kenilworth (from

District 20 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

). Removed were Chatham Township, Harding Township,

, and Millburn, all of which were shifted into the 27th Legislative District. A special convention of Republican Party delegates chose Nancy Munoz in May 2009 to succeed her husband, Eric Munoz, following his death in March of that year.Bechtel, Sheri
"Nancy Munoz succeeds her husband in the N.J. Assembly"
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'', May 22, 2009. accessed July 18, 2010.

Election history

Election results

Senate

General Assembly

References

{{NewJerseyLegislatureDistricts Morris County, New Jersey Somerset County, New Jersey Union County, New Jersey 21