A conversation with Luanne Peterpaul

The New Jersey Globe is premiering a weekly interview series with state legislators, beginning this week with Luanne Peterpaul.

Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul (D-Long Branch) won election to the Legislature in 2023, flipping a seat in the Monmouth County-based 11th district. Peterpaul spent a dozen years as the board chair of Garden State Equality; she’s also worked as an assistant county prosecutor in Essex County and a municipal judge in Long Branch and Asbury Park. She is the first out lesbian to serve in the New Jersey Legislature, and a Livingston native.

She serves as deputy Assembly majority leader and vice chair of the Judiciary Committee, and holds seats on the Financial Institutions and Insurance and Aging and Human Services committees.

Peterpaul received 31,636 votes in her first election to the Assembly in 2023, defeating two Republican incumbents who had flipped 11th district seats two years earlier: Marilyn Piperno (24,230) and Kim Eulner (24,025). In 2025, she received 47,166 votes, defeating Republicans Jessica Ford (37,906) and Andrew Wardell (38,234).

A list of Peterpaul’s floor and committee votes this session can be found by clicking HERE.
Click HERE to view a list of bills that Peterpaul has sponsored.

The following phone interview has been edited for clarity and length.

New Jersey Globe: The legislative session is still young. Budget season is starting up. What do you hope to be able to accomplish in Trenton this year?

Luanne Peterpaul: I hope to accomplish a lot in Trenton. We were elected to get things done, including affordability, and I know we have a tight budget with what’s going on at the federal level. But we work hard, we reach across the aisle, and I anticipate we’ll get a lot of things done.

You seem to have a relatively tight relationship with your district mates, state Senator Vin Gopal and Assemblywoman Margie Donlon. What is that relationship like when you’re working on legislation?

It’s symbiotic, I have to say. It’s a family of choice, in a way, and we work very well together. We’re able to bounce ideas off of each other. We don’t always agree, but we’re very respectful of each other’s opinions, and we want to get things done. I know we have the same philosophy of taking care of our constituents and making sure that they’re heard, that we listen, and we support each other when necessary.

What does that support look like? What priorities are the three of you focusing on right now?

Number one, obviously, is affordability, and along with that, school funding, hopefully reducing property taxes along the line, and addressing our health care crisis. That is going to be a big issue coming up, especially with the cuts that we’re going to see with Medicaid. And we need to look at our youth. One of the things we really stress is supporting and uplifting the children in our district, especially with mental health issues, or addressing issues with online social media.

Among some other bills, you helped pass legislation criminalizing unlawful deepfake imagery, as well as other issues with AI. Is more legislation needed to address AI as it continues to proliferate, and what issues are you looking at there?

There’s no doubt we need to address the issues, and I think we’re a little bit behind in doing that. We need to look at how AI impacts our professionals and licensing. We’re looking at passing legislation to look at what it is that our licensed professionals are using and making sure that [they’re] getting the correct information. And it’s addressing the algorithms that are out there. I do think that there’s a big issue with people getting the same information over and over and over again without diversity of information.

During last year’s campaign, you really touted Stay NJ, and those checks started going out this year. Do you hope to see that program remain as is? And why is property tax relief important in your district? [Gov. Mikie Sherrill proposed lowering income limits for New Jerseyans seeking Stay NJ relief.]

Well, that program, we’ve received a lot of positive response to that. We’re going to fight really hard to maintain what it is to keep our seniors here in the state of New Jersey. I say this over and over again, I believe our state is one of the most amazing states in this country. It’s so diverse with citizenship, with the environment, with the geographical location, and we need to make sure that our seniors and others — like our young — are able to afford to stay here, because it is such a great state. As far as Stay NJ, I will support whatever it takes to make sure that we maintain and support our seniors.

Have you gotten the chance to work with the governor during this term at all?

Not individually, but I’ve gotten to know the governor over a period of time. I admire her strength, her decisiveness, her intelligence, and we’ll see what happens as things play out.

Do you agree with the governor that some cuts might be necessary to protect the state’s budget down the line, and what priorities would you hope to protect from any cuts?

I do think we need to look at our budget and make sure that what is there is essential to maintain what’s going on in the state of New Jersey.

What should be cut are things that aren’t necessary to maintain our quality of life. We need to look at consolidation within our schools and within our municipalities. There is a lot that can be saved along those lines. I know it’s difficult, and it’s a tough issue for people to look at and address, but it really is something we need to look at. I do believe we could save a lot of money when we look at sharing services and consolidating those types of things. We need to look at healthcare. [Pharmacy benefit managers], right? There are a lot of things that we can look at. I agree we need to take a close, close look at what’s going on, especially with the federal cuts that are coming down the pike.

The Democratic Assembly majority is larger than it’s been in decades, since the Watergate years. Do you feel like your voice is valued within a caucus this large? What is that dynamic like this year?

It’s interesting because there is a diversity of people in the caucus. I’m now called a sophomore legislator, and I have been appointed deputy majority leader, and I am vice chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. It’s important for us as leaders to mentor those coming in, and it’s really important for our diversity of voices. And that’s what I believe we have now, a diversity of voices.

And I’m going to go off-topic real quickly — your field, journalism, is something we really do need to look at. There is a lack of independent journalism in our country. And I believe it is having such a negative impact with misinformation across the board. I think we need to focus on what’s going on with journalism and truth.

And it’s both in terms of independent journalism and local journalism. There are so many outlets lost over the years, and it’s harder for people to learn what their towns are doing.

It’s sad to see it happening. And a lot of it revolves around finances and funding and money. And you know, as much as we can complain about what we’re spending, I think a lot of times we lose sight of, if we spend $1 here, what is the return on investment down the road? And I try to ask that question all the time in committee. We’re asking to spend this money, but is there a return on investment? And half the time, people say, ‘That’s a great question, I’ll get back to you,’ and some are prepared to answer it. One group came in [pushing to support our children] said that if we spent $1, our return on investment was $3. And to me, that’s really what we should be looking at, and it obviously isn’t something we see tomorrow. It’s something we see in the future. And one of the things I applaud the governor on is looking toward the future, not just tomorrow.

You’re New Jersey’s first out lesbian legislator, and you’ve spent a decent amount of time as a top LGBTQ advocate in New Jersey. How does your identity and activism inform your work as a legislator today?

Philosophically, I think it’s always important to have diversity at the table, whether it’s someone who’s LGBTQ+, Black, Latino, woman, Asian; it’s really important. And I see it across the board when I am sitting in the caucus. There was a situation where I substituted in on a committee session, and there was a bill that was being addressed, and I read the bill, and I realized that the wording of the bill negatively impacted the LGBTQ+ community. I approached the prime sponsor of that bill and explained what the position was. They understood it, and the bill was changed. Those are the things that are really important: having someone who has been through the process, living their authentic life, and being able to address those types of issues.

Do you feel like LGBTQ rights are in a stronger place than when you started your advocacy, both in terms of legislation and how society views the LGBTQ community writ large?

I believe that we’ve gone backwards. I mean, especially when we look at the issues dealing with the transgender community, you know, people are people. People just want to live their authentic lives. And these attacks, there’s a slippery slope.

It’s easy for someone to attack a minority group, but when we separate and don’t support and uplift each other, that becomes the real issue. And I am a little disappointed in the lack of support outwardly for the transgender community, and I think part of that is the fault of the LGBTQ+ community in terms of educating our state and constituents that they’re just people like anybody else, but we need to continue the work.

It’s become more difficult, and the message that we’re giving our youth is the wrong message. The messaging becomes one of bullying and otherness, rather than accepting and moving forward. And I do think we need to be more careful about how we address these issues. It’s fine to have a belief, but it’s not fine to use that belief to hurt someone else.

Peterpaul represents the 11th district, part of Monmouth County, in the New Jersey Legislature: Allenhurst, Asbury Park, Bradley Beach, Colts Neck, Deal, Eatontown, Fair Haven, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Interlaken, Loch Arbour, Long Branch, Neptune, Neptune Township, Ocean Township (Monmouth), Red Bank, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, and Tinton Falls.