The 125-member political action committee of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) has voted to endorse Gov. Phil Murphy as well as 59 legislative candidates for election this November. Those endorsements include 19 Senate candidates and 40 Assembly candidates. Forty-eight endorsements were for Democratic candidates and 11 were for Republican candidates. Additional endorsements may be made later in the summer pending the results of legislative screenings in the districts not listed below.

NJEA President Marie Blistan praised the candidates who earned endorsement. “Our members take this process very seriously and only endorse those candidates who have a demonstrated commitment to public education and a record of support. The candidates who earned these endorsements know that it comes with our pledge that we will work hard to get them elected and our expectation that we will work together for the benefit of New Jersey’s students and our public schools. We back up our endorsements with action because we know the importance of having leaders in place who share our values and our belief in our public schools.

NJEA Vice President Sean M. Spiller had particular praise for Gov. Phil Murphy, who again earned NJEA members’ enthusiastic endorsement. “In 2017, our members endorsed Gov. Murphy on the basis of his promises and his progressive vision for public education. This year, he earned our endorsement on the basis of his outstanding record as governor. He’s kept and even exceeded his promises to New Jersey families and public school employees while guiding New Jersey through some of the most challenging times in our state’s history. We are excited to work until November to get him reelected so we can continue New Jersey’s progress together.”

NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Steve Beatty noted that legislative endorsements also matter to our students and their families. “We are proud to support all of these legislative candidates. They have demonstrated their commitment to our students and our public schools and they are going to see our commitment to getting them elected in November. We owe it to our students to model the importance of civic engagement and we owe it to them to help build a fairer, stronger future for them. Supporting these candidates lets us do both of those things at the same time.”

NJEA PAC voted on the recommendations of local interview teams from each legislative district. Those endorsements are:

• LD 2: Vince Mazzeo (D) for Senate and John Armato (D) and Caren Fitzpatrick (D) for Assembly
• LD 3: Stephen Sweeney (D) for Senate and John Burzichelli (D) and Adam Taliaferro (D) for Assembly
• LD 4: Fred H. Madden (D) for Senate and Paul Moriarty (D) and Gabriela Mosquera (D) for Assembly
• LD 5: Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D) for Senate and William Spearman (D) and William Moen (D) for Assembly
• LD 6: James Beach (D) for Senate and Louis Greenwald (D) and Pamela Lampitt (D) for Assembly
• LD 11: Vin Gopal (D) for Senate and Joann Downey (D) and Eric Houghtaling (D) for Assembly
• LD 12: Ronald Dancer (R) and Robert Clifton (R) for Assembly
• LD 13: Vincent Solomeno III (D) for Senate and Allison Friedman (D) and Erin Howard (D) for Assembly
• LD 14: Linda Greenstein (D) for Senate and Dan Benson (D) and Wayne DeAngelo (D) for Assembly
• LD 15: Shirley K. Turner (D) for Senate and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D) and Anthony S. Verrelli (D) for Assembly
• LD 16: Andrew Zwicker (D) for Senate and Roy Freiman (D) and Sadaf Jaffer (D) for Assembly
• LD 20: Joe Cryan (D) for Senate and Reginald Atkins (D) and Annette Quijano (D) for Assembly
• LD 21: Jon Bramnick (R) for Senate and Anjali Mehrotra (D) and Nancy Munoz (R) for Assembly
• LD 22: Nicholas Scutari (D) for Senate and Linda Carter (D) and James Kennedy (D) for Assembly
• LD 23: No endorsement
• LD 25: Anthony Bucco (R) for Senate and Aura Dunn (R) for Assembly
• LD 26: Christine Clarke (D) for Senate and Pamela Fadden (D) for Assembly
• LD 27: Richard J. Codey (D) for Senate and Mila M. Jasey (D) and John F. McKeon (D) for Assembly
• LD 28: Ronald Rice (D) for Senate and Cleopatra Tucker (D) and Ralph Caputo (D) for Assembly
• LD 30: Edward “Ned” Thomson (R) and Sean Kean (R) for Assembly
• LD 34: Nia H. Gill (D) for Senate and Thomas P. Giblin (D) and Britnee N. Timberlake (D) for Assembly
• LD 40: Kristin Corrado (R) for Senate and Kevin Rooney (R) and Christopher DePhillips (R) for Assembly