Craig Coughlin
171st Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly
Assumed office
January 9, 2018
Preceded byVincent Prieto
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
from the 19th district
Assumed office
January 12, 2010
Serving with Yvonne Lopez
Preceded byJoseph Vas
Personal details
Born (1958-01-31) January 31, 1958
Perth Amboy, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLetitia Coughlin
Children3
EducationSt. John's University (BS, JD)
WebsiteLegislative website

Craig John Coughlin (born January 31, 1958) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 19th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2010. He has served as the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018. He is the longest serving Speaker of the General Assembly in History.

Early life

Born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Coughlin grew up in South Amboy and graduated from South Amboy Middle High School in 1976.[1] Coughlin received a B.S. degree in 1980 from St. John's University and a J.D. degree in 1983 from St. John's University School of Law.[2]

He served on the Board of Education of the South Amboy Public Schools from 1983 to 1987. In 1987 he was elected to the South Amboy City Council, serving until 1993.[3][4] He worked as an attorney before serving as a municipal court judge for Edison Township in 2005. He lived in Woodbridge Township, NJ and his children attended the Woodbridge Township School District.

Controversy

In 2016, shortly after attaining the position of Assembly Speaker, Coughlin formed the law firm Rainone Coughlin Minchello. Coughlin's firm includes four other attorneys who had worked for Decotiis FitzPatrick & Cole LLP, providing legal services to municipal and county governments totaling $14 million in FY2016. As of 2017, Coughlin's firm secured contracts with dozens of local municipalities totaling over $1 million.[5]

Coughlin's law firm currently provides for-profit legal counsel to the Middlesex County Improvement Authority,[6] and has recently acquired a $150,000 public contract with North Brunswick to fulfill the position of Municipal Attorney.[7]

The Middlesex County Improvement Authority was awarded a $70 million contract by NJ Transit to manage the North Brunswick Train station project. In a statement made to Bloomberg News, Coughlin denies any conflicts of interest or "involvement with respect to Middlesex County’s or the improvement authority’s discussions with the state concerning North Brunswick transit village and never had any intention of performing any work in connection with this project."[8]

New Jersey Assembly

He resigned from the court in 2009 to run for the General Assembly seat vacated by Joseph Vas, after the Democratic candidate, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, dropped out of the race. On September 8, 2009, a special convention of Middlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mate John Wisniewski.[9]

Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010.[10] On November 13, 2017, was selected by the Assembly Democratic Conference to be Speaker of the Assembly starting in January 2018 when the new legislative term begins.[11]

Committees

  • Legislative Services Commission

District 19

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. The representatives from the 19th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are:[12]

Electoral history

New Jersey general election, 2021[13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Craig Coughlin (Incumbent) 26,529 29.15
Democratic Yvonne Lopez (Incumbent) 26,057 28.63
Republican Anthony "Tony" Gallo 19,337 21.24
Republican Bruce Banko 19,098 20.98
Total votes 91,021 100.0
19th Legislative District General Election, 2019[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Craig Coughlin (incumbent) 17,878 33.52%
Democratic Yvonne Lopez (incumbent) 17,039 31.95%
Republican Rocco Genova 9,046 16.96%
Republican Christian Onuoha 8,705 16.32%
Independent William Cruz 661 1.24%
Total votes 53,329 100%
Democratic hold
New Jersey general election, 2017[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Craig Coughlin (Incumbent) 25,708 35.6 Steady 0.0
Democratic Yvonne Lopez 24,830 34.4 Decrease 1.9
Republican Deepak Malhotra 10,709 14.8 Steady 0.0
Republican Amarjit K. Riar 9,436 13.1 Decrease 0.2
Quality of Life William Cruz 1,488 2.1 N/A
Total votes 72,171 100.0
New Jersey general election, 2015[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Wisniewski (Incumbent) 16,159 36.3 Increase 2.6
Democratic Craig Coughlin (Incumbent) 15,880 35.6 Increase 4.7
Republican Thomas E. Maras 6,597 14.8 Decrease 3.7
Republican Jesus Varela 5,916 13.3 Decrease 3.5
Total votes '44,552' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2013[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Wisniewski (Incumbent) 24,404 33.7 Decrease 0.3
Democratic Craig Coughlin (Incumbent) 22,393 30.9 Decrease 1.7
Republican Stephanie Ziemba 13,406 18.5 Increase 1.7
Republican Arif Khan 12,151 16.8 Increase 0.2
Total votes '72,354' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2011[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John Wisniewski (Incumbent) 18,241 34.0
Democratic Craig Coughlin (Incumbent) 17,492 32.6
Republican Angel J. Leon 9,008 16.8
Republican Shane Robinson 8,915 16.6
Total votes 53,656 100.0
New Jersey general election, 2009[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Wisniewski (Incumbent) 24,329 28.7 Decrease 4.6
Democratic Craig Coughlin 22,226 26.3 Decrease 0.7
Republican Richard W. Piatkowski 17,555 20.7 Increase 0.5
Republican Peter Kothari 16,846 19.9 Increase 0.3
Total votes '84,633' '100.0'

References

  1. ↑ Mack, Lonnie. "Hoffman gets an 'A'", The Home News, June 2, 1976. Accessed January 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 2010, p. 273. Accessed January 24, 2022. "Craig J. Coughlin, Dem., Woodbridge: Assemblyman Coughlin was born Jan. 31. 1958, in Perth Amboy. He attended public schools in South Amboy and graduated summa cum laude from St. John's University in 1980. He received a law degree from St. John's University School of Law in 1983."
  3. ↑ Assemblyman Craig J. Coughlin (D), New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 24, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Assemblyman Craig J. Coughlin Bio Page". NJ Assembly Majority Office. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  5. ↑ Friedman, Matt (October 6, 2017). "Coughlin's new law firm doing brisk business with local governments". Politico PRO. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  6. ↑ "NJ Transit's first new station in years risks adding congestion". Crain's New York Business. November 26, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ Elise Young (November 26, 2019). "NJ Transit's First New Station in Years Risks Adding Congestion". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Coughlin wins vote to run for Assembly". Woodbridge Sentinel. September 9, 2009. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Wisniewski and Coughlin take their seats in state Assembly". Woodbridge Sentinel. January 20, 2010. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Coughlin Rolls Out Leadership Team, Some Priorities". Observer. November 13, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  12. ↑ Legislative Roster for District 19, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 11, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly For GENERAL ELECTION 11/02/2021 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly For PRIMARY ELECTION 06/04/2019 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. April 11, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  15. ↑ "2017 Official general election results, General Assembly" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  16. ↑ "2015 Official general election results, NJ, General Assembly" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  17. ↑ "2013 Official general election results, General Assembly" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  18. ↑ "2011 Official general election results, General Assembly" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  19. ↑ "2009 Official general election results, General Assembly" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
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