Cleopatra Tucker
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
from the 28th legislative district
Assumed office
January 8, 2008
Serving with Ralph R. Caputo (2008-2023)
Jackie Yustein (2023-present)
Preceded byCraig A. Stanley
Oadline Truitt
Personal details
Born
Cleopatra Gibson

(1943-04-09) April 9, 1943
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseDonald Kofi Tucker (m. ?–2005, his death)
Children2
Residence(s)Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma materTennessee State University
OccupationNon-profit director
WebsiteAssemblywoman Tucker's legislative webpage

Cleopatra Gibson Tucker (born April 9, 1943) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2008, where she represents the 28th Legislative District.

Biography

Tucker was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She attended Tennessee State University, majoring in sociology. After moving to Newark, New Jersey, in 1966, she was hired by the Newark Housing Authority in 1976. She retired from the Authority in 2002. She is currently the executive director of a non-profit organization called The Centre, Inc.[1] The Centre's headquarters was named after her late husband, Donald Kofi Tucker, in 2006.[2]

Tucker has two grown children with her late husband and is a resident of Newark's Weequahic neighborhood.[3][4]

Political career

After Donald Tucker, who was both a Newark councilman and an Assemblyman, died in October 2005 and posthumously won re-election to his Assembly seat, Assemblyman Tucker was replaced in a special election convention by Evelyn Williams, who was elected to serve the remaining month of the term and to serve the first year of the full term.[5][6] Williams resigned from the Assembly in January 2006 before the start of the new session, following her arrest for shoplifting, creating a vacant seat. A special election convention appointed Democratic Party activist Oadline Truitt to the seat for the first half of the term and she was re-elected in a November 2006 special election.[7] In Truitt's first bid for a full two-year term, Tucker and Essex County Freeholder and former Assemblyman from the 1960s-1970s Ralph R. Caputo defeated Truitt and incumbent Assemblyman Craig A. Stanley in the June 2007 Democratic primary. Tucker and Caputo had the backing of Newark Mayor Cory Booker.[4][8] Tucker has subsequently won re-election to the Assembly every two years since then.

In January 2011, Tucker introduced a bill that would require every bicycle in the state of New Jersey to display a license plate, which would be registered with the government for a small fee.[9] Within about a week, she withdrew her proposal.[10]

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session are:[1]

  • Military and Veterans' Affairs, Chair
  • Human Services
  • Telecommunications and Utilities

District 28

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly.[11] The representatives from the 28th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are:[12]

References

  1. 1 2 Assemblywoman Cleopatra G. Tucker, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 31, 2022.
  2. ↑ Biography via CapitolConnect.com
  3. ↑ "Assemblywoman Cleopatra G. Tucker Bio Page". NJ Assembly Majority Office. Archived from the original on January 22, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Official List Candidate Returns for General Assembly For June 2007 Primary Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. July 20, 2007. p. 28. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Dead assemblyman wins re-election". United Press International. November 8, 2005. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Donald Tucker's replacement". Politicker NJ. November 15, 2005. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  7. ↑ Howlett, Deborah (February 10, 2006). "School librarian takes Assembly seat". The Star-Ledger.
  8. ↑ Gillespie, Andra (2012). The New Black Politician: Cory Booker, Newark, and Post-Racial America. New York University Press. p. 199. ISBN 9780814732458. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  9. ↑ Friedman, Matt (January 12, 2011). "N.J. lawmaker proposes mandatory license plates for bicycles". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  10. ↑ Staff (January 13, 2011). "N.J. lawmaker withdraws proposal to require license plates for bicycles". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  11. ↑ New Jersey State Constitution 1947 (Updated Through Amendments Adopted in November, 2020): Article IV, Section II, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 28, 2022.
  12. ↑ Legislative Roster for District 28, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed September 29, 2022.
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