Murphy chooses Tahesha Way as Lt. Governor

Gov. Phil Murphy has picked Tahesha L. Way, his Secretary of State since 2018, as New Jersey’s next lieutenant governor and is expected to announce his appointment tomorrow, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.

Way will succeed Sheila Oliver, who died in office on August 1 after an extended illness.

The 51-year-old Way, who becomes next in the line of gubernatorial succession, will remain as Secretary of State.  She is not expected to seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2025, when Murphy will be term-limited.

This week, Murphy narrowed his choices to two finalists: Way and Nina Mitchell Wells, who served as New Jersey’s Secretary of State under Gov. Jon Corzine and a significant national Democratic donor, the New Jersey Globe has learned.  Wells had been thoroughly vetted as a serious contender for the post.

Commissioner of Transportation Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti withdrew from consideration after questions came up about her residency.  A longtime New Jerseyan, she moved briefly to Florida after Republican Chris Christie became governor to run the Florida Turnpike, and returned to the state to join Murphy’s cabinet in 2018.  That might have conflicted with the State Constitution’s seven-year residency requirement.

Dr. Brian Bridges, New Jersey’s Secretary of Higher Education, had also been a strong candidate for lieutenant governor, but he lived in the Washington area when he was an executive at the United Negro College Fund before joining the Murphy administration nearly three years ago.

Murphy makes the appointment alone, with no Senate confirmation.  Chief Justice Stuart Rabner is expected to swear Way into office tomorrow.

Way, a Murphy loyalist, will become the state’s third lieutenant governor and the second Black woman to hold the post.  New Jersey’s lieutenant governors have also held cabinet posts since the position was created in advance of the 2009 gubernatorial election; Kim Guadagno had served as Secretary of State, and Oliver was the Commissioner of Community Affairs.

She was elected Passaic County Freeholder in 2006 but narrowly lost re-election two years later in an upset Republican year.  She had served as an attorney for the Passaic County Board of Social Services and as an Administrative Law Judge before joining Murphy’s cabinet in January 2018.

This was her third time on shortlists for lieutenant governor: Corzine had considered her as a running mate in 2009; Way was on Murphy’s 2017 shortlist.

Way will be acting governor for nine days in October while Murphy is on an economic development trip to Asia.

She had recently served as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.  During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Way was unexpectedly assigned to run primary and general elections conducted almost entirely through mail in a presidential election year.  More than 4.6 million vote-by-mail ballots were cast in November 2020.

She is married to Charles Way, a former New York Giants player and NFL executive.  She graduated from Brown University and the University of Virginia Law School.

Wells also had extensive experience in government.  She worked as an assistant corporation counsel in Newark as head of the Division of Rate Counsel under Gov. Jim Florio.  She was President Obama’s pick to serve on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.   Wells was also an assistant dean at Rutgers Law School and vice president of public affairs at Schering Plough.

Her husband, Theodore Wells, is a nationally prominent criminal defense attorney.  Her daughter, Teresa, was advance director and traveling press secretary to Corzine and worked on presidential campaigns for Bill Bradley, John Kerry, and John Edwards.

New Jersey voters approved the creation of the lieutenant governor’s position in a 2005 referendum after two governors resigned in less than four years.