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 ...
Raymond Bateman
Raymond H. "Ray" Bateman (October 29, 1927 – June 25, 2016) was an American politician who represented Somerset County in the New Jersey Senate in the 1960s and 1970s and was the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in 1977. He was t ...
, who represented the 16th district in the New Jersey Senate in the 1960s and 1970s, and was the Republican candidate for
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...
in
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
, losing to incumbent
Brendan Byrne
Brendan Thomas Byrne (April 1, 1924 – January 4, 2018) was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982.
A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a priva ...
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in 1980 from
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...
in Political Science and History and was awarded a J.D. in 1987 from the
Seton Hall University School of Law
Seton Hall University School of Law is the law school of Seton Hall University, and is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall Law is the only private law school in New Jersey, and, according to the ''U.S. News & World Report'' rankin ...
Bateman served on the Branchburg Township Committee from 1983 to 1988 and was its Mayor in 1986. He then served on the Somerset 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 ...
from 1988 to 1994 and was its Director in 1992. After being 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 ...
, Bateman was appointed to the Task Force to Study Homeowner Associations from 1996 to 1997 and the Delaware and Raritan Transportation Safety Study Commission from 1995 to 1996.
New Jersey State Assembly
Bateman 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 f ...
from 1994 to 2008, where he was the Assembly's Assistant Republican Leader from 2004 to 2005, was the Assistant Republican Whip from 2002 to 2003, the Majority Whip in 1996 and was the Assistant Majority Whip from 1994 to 1995. Bateman served in the Assembly on the Commerce and Economic Development Committee, the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee and the Legislative Services Commission.Senator Bateman's legislative web page New Jersey Legislature. Accessed April 23, 2008.
New Jersey State Senate
In the 2007 legislative elections, Bateman won the State Senate seat of retiring Senator Walter J. Kavanaugh. Prior to the 2011 redistricting, the 16th district consisted of most of Somerset County. Following the 2011 redistricting, towns in northern and eastern parts of Somerset (including Bridgewater) were removed, and were replaced by a portion of
Hunterdon County
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,South Brunswick and
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
. This made the 16th district a swing district. He fended off a challenge by
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Maureen Vella by defeating her by 9 points in 2011. His 2013 election winning margin was larger as he defeated Christian Mastondrea by 20 points.
During the 2019 budget fight, Democrats defied Governor
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 ...
and passed a budget without his proposed millionaire's tax. Bateman was one of six Republicans to vote for the budget.
On January 27, 2021, Bateman announced that he would be retiring and not run for re-election to the State Senate in
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
.
Bateman is a moderate Republican. He has been known to break with his party and vote with Democrats on environmental issues, as he is a believer in
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
. In addition, in each of his elections to the state legislature, Bateman received the endorsement of New Jersey environmental activist and New Jersey Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel, one of few Republicans that he has endorsed. Tittel and the Sierra Club awarded Bateman their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...