Calabrese, Schaer convincingly re-elected to Trump-won LD36

Assemblymen Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Clinton Calabrese (D-Cliffside Park) have secured new terms in southern Bergen County’s 36th district, the New Jersey Globe projects, even after the district veered sharply towards Republicans in last year’s federal elections.

As of 10:01 p.m. and with most of the vote counted, Schaer and Calabrese each have 30% of the vote, while their GOP foes, Carlstadt Councilwoman Diane DeBiase and former Lyndhurst school board member Christopher Musto, each have 20%.

The plurality-Hispanic district – which includes most of southern Bergen County, historically a more working- and middle-class area than the rest of the county, as well the city of Passaic – has been held by Democrats since 2005, when Schaer flipped an open Republican-held seat. But Donald Trump, who made far-reaching gains across New Jersey and especially among Latino voters, unexpectedly carried the district 51%-47% last year, putting it on Republicans’ radar.

This year’s election, however, was fairly quiet, with the only thing keeping it anywhere near the playing field being Trump’s win. Schaer and Calabrese are both regarded as strong vote-getters from their respective wings of the district, and unlike some districts where candidates and outside groups spent upwards of $2 million, not much money made its way to the 36th district on either side.

Democrats’ confidence stemmed in part from the result in 2023, when Schaer, Calabrese, and State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) obliterated a deeply flawed Republican slate that included one candidate who had once been arrested for smearing feces on a daycare. The other two candidates from 2023, twins Chris and Craig Auriemma, tried to snag the GOP nominations again this year, but lost to DeBiase and Musto in the primary.

Schaer, a member of Passaic City’s Orthodox Jewish community, is the Assembly’s third-most senior member, and remains both the city council president and a potent political force in his hometown. For a time, he held the role of Assembly Budget Chair, arguably the body’s second-most powerful job, but lost it in 2017 after Craig Coughlin became Assembly Speaker; in recent years, one of his missions has been to pass a bill establishing a state definition of antisemitism, an effort which has yet to come to fruition.

The 39-year-old Calabrese is newer to Trenton, having been chosen at a convention in 2018 to replace now-Commissioner of Banking and Insurance Marlene Caride. Calabrese is the scion of a legendary Cliffside Park political family; his grandfather Gerald was mayor for 50 years, making him the longest-serving mayor in state history, and his uncle Thomas is the borough’s current mayor.