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 he was sworn into office on January 12, 2016. Howarth lost re-election in the 2019 GOP primary. He left office on January 14, 2020.
Early life
A resident of Evesham Township, Howarth received a bachelor's degree from Trenton State College (now
The College of New Jersey
The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, or ...
) with a major in health and physical education. He has worked for the
Lenape Regional High School District
The Lenape Regional High School District is a comprehensive regional public high school district that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from eight municipalities in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. The communities in t ...
Evesham Township School District
The Evesham Township School District is a comprehensive state school, public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Evesham Township, New Jersey, Evesham Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlingt ...
from 2003 to 2007 and on the Evesham Township Council from 2009 to 2011. He was elected to the Burlington 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 ...
and was sworn into office on January 3, 2012, as part of an all-Republican board. Howarth chose not to run for re-election in 2014 after serving a single term as a freeholder in order to allow himself an opportunity to take care of personal health issues.
New Jersey Assembly
Howarth was elected to the Assembly in November 2015 after Assemblyman Christopher J. Brown announced his retirement.
In September 2017, after two-term incumbent Maria Rodriguez-Gregg decided against running for election after an incident earlier that year in which police thought that she was driving under the influence following a traffic accident, the Burlington County Republican Committee chose Burlington County Freeholder Ryan Peters to run for the Assembly seat as Howarth's running mate.
In the November 2017 general election, Howarth (with 28,841; 25.1% of all ballots cast) and Peters (with 28,671 votes; 25.0%), defeated Democratic challengers Joanne Schwartz (28,321; 24.7%) and Maryann Merlino (28,196; 24.6%) to win both Assembly seats from the district for the Republicans. With Joanne Schwartz, the closest Democratic candidate 350 votes behind Peters, the Democratic Party had considered filing for a recount. Of all 40 districts, the race in the 8th District was the closest in the state, with 650 votes separating the first and fourth vote-getters.
After the 8th District's Senator
Dawn Addiego
Dawn Marie Addiego (born October 20, 1962) is an American politician who represented the New Jersey's 8th legislative district in the New Jersey Senate from 2010 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the General Ass ...
switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in early 2019, Howarth allegedly attempted to do the same. The Burlington County Republican Party dropped its support for Howarth, choosing to instead support Burlington County Sheriff Jean Stanfield to run with incumbent Ryan Peters.
In the primary election where he heavily tied himself to President Donald J. Trump, Howarth was defeated by Stanfield.
Tenure
The following Monday after Howarth's defeat, his nameplates where missing from the GOP caucus room fueling speculation he would switch parties or resign, however neither happened. Later that month, he proposed a bill that would take the pay away from legislators who are absent from a session.
Committee assignments
*Law and Public Safety
*Tourism, Gaming, and the Arts
Atlantic County, New Jersey
Atlantic County is a county located along the southern coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county had a population of 274,534.218th New Jersey Legislature were:
* Senator
Dawn Marie Addiego
Dawn Marie Addiego (born October 20, 1962) is an American politician who represented the New Jersey's 8th legislative district in the New Jersey Senate from 2010 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the General Ass ...
(D)
* Assemblyman Joe Howarth (R)
* Assemblyman Ryan Peters(R)