New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
's 38th legislative district is one of 40 districts that make up the map for 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 ...
As of the 2020 United States census, the district had a population of 227,451, of whom 179,126 (78.8%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 135,144 (59.4%)
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 ...
, 9,698 (4.3%)
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 ...
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 ...
, 21,955 (9.7%) from some other race, and 23,857 (10.5%) 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 48,582 (21.4%) of the population.
The district had 164,670 registered voters , of whom 66,211 (40.2%) were registered as unaffiliated, 58,905 (35.8%) were registered as Democrats, 37,911 (23.0%) 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 1,643 (1.0%) were registered to other parties.
Political representation
The legislative district overlaps with New Jersey's 5th and 9th congressional districts.
Apportionment history
Since the creation of the 40-district legislative map in 1973, the 38th district has always included Paramus, though early in the lifetime of the 40-district map, Hackensack was also within the district. In the 1973 version of the map, and in the decade following the 1981 redistricting, Paramus and Hackensack anchored the 38th district with numerous nearby municipalities in central Bergen County compromising the remainder of the district. In the 1991 redistricting, the 38th became more of a crescent shape stretching from Cliffside Park and Palisades Park, northwest to Elmwood Park, then north and east to Paramus and Oradell. This shape was slightly modified in 2001 when that year's
redistricting
Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census.
The U.S. Constitution in Art ...
extended the 38th to the
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
picking up Fort Lee and Edgewater. The crescent shape of the district was removed in the 2011 redistricting when it changed to a T-shaped district extending out of Bergen County for the first time.
In October 2015, Anthony Cappola left the race for an Assembly seat in the 38th district and resigned from office as a member of the River Edge Borough Council, following disclosures that he had written and published a 2003 book titled ''Outrageous'' that was described as "full of racial slurs, rants and stereotypes". The Bergen County Republican Organization filed suit in Passaic County, seeking to replace Cappola's spot on the ballot with Fernando Alonso and offering to cover the $100,000 cost of reprinting ballots. Bergen County Clerk John Hogan argued that absentee ballots had already been printed and distributed, with nearly ballots already completed and submitted to the Clerk's Office. The Republicans unexpectedly dropped the effort to have the candidate replaced on October 13 and Cappola later announced his intention to continue in the race. Ultimately Cappola and his running mate Mark DiPisa were defeated by Democratic incumbents Tim Eustace and Joseph Lagana.
All three seats became vacant in 2018. Robert M. Gordon resigned his Senate seat on April 4, 2018, to accept an appointment to the
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) is a regulatory authority in New Jersey "with authority to oversee the regulated utilities, which in turn provide critical services such as natural gas, electricity, water, telecommunications and c ...
. Democratic committee members in Bergen and Passaic Counties unanimously selected Assemblyman Lagana over Assemblyman Eustace (after the latter withdrew to back Lagana) to replace Gordon in the Senate on April 11; he took his Senate seat on April 12. The following day on April 13, Eustace resigned his seat to become deputy director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission. Committee members selected Fair Lawn Mayor Lisa Swain and Congressional aide and former Bergenfield Council President Chris Tully as the replacements in the Assembly; they were sworn in on May 24. In the November 6, 2018, special election to complete the unexpired terms, Lagana defeated Daisy Ortiz Berger for the senate seat and Swain and Tully defeated Republicans Gail Horton and Jayme Ouellete for the two assembly seats.Biryukov, Nikita "Lagana, Swain, Tully Win" ''New Jersey Globe'', November 6, 2018. Accessed January 30, 2024. "State Sen. Joseph Lagana, Assemblywoman Lisa Swain and Assemblyman Chris Tully won in the 38th legislative district and will serve the remaining year of their terms.... Swain and Tully defeat Republicans Gail Horton and Jayme Ouellette. Swain secured 38,372 votes while Tully received 37,188. They took 30% and 29% of the vote, respectively."