Britnee N. Timberlake (born May 14, 1986) is an American Democratic Party politician who has represented the 34th Legislative District 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 f ...

since January 29, 2018, when she was sworn in to replace

Sheila Oliver Sheila Y. Oliver (born July 14, 1952) is an American politician serving as the second lieutenant governor of New Jersey since 2018. She previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2018, where she represented the 34th legi ...

, who took office as

Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey The lieutenant governor of New Jersey is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of New Jersey in the United States. The lieutenant governor is the second highest-ranking official in the state governmen ...

. Timberlake had served as Freeholder President of the Essex County

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

, where she was at the time the state's only African-American woman to serve as a freeholder board leader.Johnson, Brent
"Meet Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver's replacement in the N.J. Assembly"
NJ Advance Media for

NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...

, January 29, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018. "Britnee Timberlake, previously New Jersey's only black female county freeholder director, is now the newest member of the state Assembly.... Timberlake, an East Orange resident, now faces a special election in November for the remainder of Oliver's two-year term."

Early life and education

A resident of

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a city in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was the state's 20th most-populous municipality in 2010, after having been the state's 14th most-po ...

, Timberlake attended

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

, where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration.Britnee N. Timberlake, Freeholder District 3

Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

. Accessed January 29, 2018.

Early political career

She was elected to represent District 3 of the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2014 and was selected as the board's president (succeeding Blonnie Watson) at the board's annual reorganization meeting in January 2015. She took office as the county's youngest freeholder under its current system of representation and when chosen as freeholder president became the state's only African American woman to be the head of a freeholder board. She founded and serves as the executive director the Essex Community Land Trust, a not-for-profit organization that works to provide

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

in Essex County.

New Jersey General Assembly

, who had run for both Assembly and as

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

's running mate as

in the November 2017 general election, won both seats but was prohibited from serving in both simultaneously; her running for both seats provided Oliver with a backup in case she lost her race with Murphy and would allow the Democratic county members to choose a successor if she won both seats. After taking office in the Assembly on January 9, 2018, she resigned from her seat that same day. On January 29, Timberlake, who had been the only African American woman in the state serving as freeholder director, was sworn in to replace Oliver, a fellow resident of East Orange who had been the first African American woman to serve as speaker of the General Assembly and the first to be elected to a position covering the entire state.

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session are:Assemblywoman Britnee N. Timberlake

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 ...

. Accessed January 30, 2022. *Commerce and Economic Development, Chair *Homeland Security and State Preparedness, Vice-Chair *Joint Committee on Housing Affordability

District 34

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the

New Jersey 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, ...

and two members in the

. The representatives from the 34th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are:Legislative Roster for District 34

. Accessed January 11, 2022. * Senator Nia Gill (D) * Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin (D) * Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake (D)

References

External links

Legislative webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timberlake, Britnee 1986 births Living people African-American state legislators in New Jersey African-American women in politics County commissioners in New Jersey Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Politicians from East Orange, New Jersey Seton Hall University alumni Women state legislators in New Jersey 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women