Democrats nominate McKeon to seek Codey’s Senate seat

John McKeon won the Democratic nomination for State Senate in the 27th district tonight after county committee members selected him by acclamation.

McKeon, 65, an eleven-term assemblyman and West Orange mayor, will replace Richard J. Codey on the Democratic ticket in November.  He will face Republican Michael Byrne in a district that is considered safe Democratic.

“I am honored and humbled,” McKeon told Democrats.  “I will be there for you and fighting every day for our principles.”

Codey announced on August 14 that he had changed his mind about running for re-election and would retire in January after completing his current term.  Codey was first elected to the State Assembly in 1973 and moved to the Senate in 1981. After nearly fifty years in Trenton, Codey is the longest-serving legislator in New Jersey history.  He is a former Senate President and was Governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006.

McKeon’s path to the Senate became easier when Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill opted to run for the Assembly instead.   Alixon Collazos-Gill is withdrawing from the race to clear the way for her husband to run.

The third Assembly seat is expected to go to Livingston Councilwoman Rosaura Bagolie.

While the district boundaries have changed since the 1970s, the Senate seat has been won for the first time by a West Orange resident since 1965, when Democrat Maclyn Goldman captured one of the four Essex at-large seats.  He was replaced by another West Orange man, Republican Milton Waldor, in 1967, by Democrat Frank “Pat” Dodd in 1971, and Codey, who was a West Orange resident when he succeeded Dodd in 1981

The Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee chairman, McKeon, is a former aide to Rep. Joseph Minish (D-West Orange) and Codey, McKeon was elected to the Assembly in 2001 and re-elected ten times.  The Senate seat has long been in McKeon’s sights, beginning with Codey’s assent to the governorship in 2004; had Codey run in 2005 and won, McKeon would have succeeded him in the upper house.  Sometimes frustrated by the longevity of Codey’s career, McKeon spent months toying with the idea of running this year.

Codey and another veteran incumbent, State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair), wound up running against each other after legislative redistricting put their hometowns in the same district.  Codey defeated her in the Democratic primary by fourteen percentage points.

The 27th district includes Livingston, Millburn, Montclair, Roseland, and West Orange in Essex County and Clifton in Passaic County.