Sauickie takes Assembly seat as Democrats pick his opponent

Assemblyman Alex Sauickie III (R-Jackson) was sworn in today as the new legislator from the 12th district.  Republicans picked him last month to replace Ronald Dancer (R-Plumsted), who died in July after a long illness.

As Sauickie was being sworn in, Democrats held a convention to nominate Paul Sarti, a Jackson resident who works for the state Treasury Department, as their candidate in a November special election to complete Dancer’s term.

The two have run against each other before.  Sauickie defeated Sarti in a 2018 non-partisan election for Ja

In brief remarks at the start of an Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee meeting this morning, Sauickie praised Dancer’s record of service that included nearly 19 years in the New Jersey Legislature.

“I was lucky enough to have a fair amount of exposure to the assemblyman long before he passed and from my point of view, he set the bar and he set a high one,” Sauickie said. “He did this for the right reasons.  He did it for his constituents and not for himself, and I look forward to doing the same.”

Sauickie was welcomed to the legislature by Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Nutley) and his swearing in comes nearly 55 years after Caputo, then a 26-year-old Newark Republican from Newark, was sworn in to his first term in the State Assembly.   (Caputo was elected in 1967 and 1969 and then returned in 2005 as a Democrat.)