Three N.J. counties have waited more than 165 years for an Assembly Speaker

When William Kennedy of Sussex County finished his second year as Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, James Madison was president, the War of 1812 had not yet begun, and Abraham Lincoln would not be born for another eight years.

That was in 1811.

No Sussex County legislator has held the speakership since; 153 have followed.  Moreover, no Republican from Sussex County has occupied the post.

Sussex has gone longer than any of New Jersey’s 21 counties without producing an Assembly Speaker, an extraordinary 215-year drought that began before the modern State House was built, before the state’s current constitution, and even before New Jersey adopted the 1844 constitution that substantially reorganized the Legislature.

Hunterdon County is not far behind.  Its last speaker was Alexander Wurt, a Jacksonian Democrat from Flemington, who held the post from 1829 through 1831, during Andrew Jackson’s presidency.  Hunterdon’s drought stands at 195 years.

Ocean County ranks third.  Edwin Salter (R-Forked River) served as speaker in 1859, two years before the Civil War began.  No Ocean County assemblymember has returned to the rostrum in the 167 years since.  Salter was the first Republican to lead the New Jersey State Assembly.

The gaps are based on the last year in which an assemblymember residing in each county served as speaker.

Technically, voters do not elect an Assembly Speaker; the 80 members of the Assembly do that at the beginning of each two-year legislative session.  But voters must first send a future speaker to Trenton, and geography, party control, seniority, and internal legislative alliances determine which county ultimately claims the gavel.

The speakership is one of the most powerful positions in New Jersey government.  The speaker controls the Assembly agenda, decides which bills receive votes, appoints committee chairs, and even approves staff hires for the majority party.  The office is third in the line of succession to the governorship, behind the lieutenant governor and Senate president.

For most counties, the drought is measured in decades rather than centuries.

Cape May County’s last speaker was John Boswell (R-Ocean City) in 1942, giving it an 84-year absence. Passaic County has waited 83 years since Manfield Amlicke (R-Passaic) held the post in 1943.

Somerset County’s most recent speaker was Freas Hess of Somerville in 1945, an 81-year gap.  Gloucester County last held the speakership through Hugh Mehorter of Woodbury in 1949, 77 years ago.

Atlantic County, which produced a series of Republican speakers during the first half of the 20th century, has not had one since Paul Salsburg (R-Ventnor) in 1955.  Its drought has reached 71 years.

Morris County’s last speaker was Elden Mills (R-Morris Township) in 1957, 69 years ago. Monmouth County has waited 62 years since Alfred Beadleston (R-Shrewsbury) served in 1964.

Bergen County’s most recent speaker was also one of the most historically significant. Marion West Higgins (R-Hillsdale) became the first woman to lead either house of the New Jersey Legislature when she took the oath as speaker in 1965.  No Bergen County legislator has held the post in the 61 years since — and only one other woman.

Robert Halpin (D-Vineland) served in 1968, producing a 58-year gap. Burlington County’s last speaker was Barry Parker (R-Mount Holly) in 1971, 55 years ago.  Parker, who was a named partner of Parker McCay, an influential South Jersey law firm, is the oldest living former Assembly Speaker.

Mercer County, despite being home to the State House and New Jersey’s capital city, has gone half a century without a speaker. S. Howard Woodson of Trenton, the first Black speaker in state history, left the post in 1976.

The droughts became significantly shorter beginning with Union County.

Chuck Hardwick (R-Westfield) led the Assembly from 1986 through 1989, before Democrats won control of the lower house.  Union County has now gone 36 years without another speaker.

Republicans regained the Assembly in the 1991 legislative landslide, elevating Chuck Haytaian (R-Hackettstown).  Haytaian served from 1992 through 1995, leaving Warren with a 30-year drought.

Jack Collins (R-Elmer) succeeded Haytaian in Salem County and remained speaker through 2001.  Collins was the last Republican to serve as Assembly Speaker; Democrats took control in January 2002 and have held the chamber ever since. Salem County’s gap now stands at 24 years.

Camden County’s most recent speaker was Joseph Roberts (D-Bellmawr), who served from 2006 through 2009.  He was followed by Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange), who led the Assembly from 2010 through 2013 and later became lieutenant governor. Essex County’s drought is now 12 years.

Hudson County most recently held the speakership with Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus). served from 2014 until January 2018, when he lost an internal Democratic leadership fight to Craig Coughlin of Woodbridge. Hudson’s gap stands at eight years.

Middlesex County is the only county with no drought at all.

Coughlin became speaker on January 9, 2018 — the 171st to hold the post — and began an unprecedented fifth term in January.  He is now the longest-serving Assembly Speaker in New Jersey history and has been re-elected by his colleagues without opposition every two years since taking the post.  Democrats hold a 57-23 majority, their largest since the Watergate-era election of 1973.  Coughlin’s fifth term, which began in January of this year, extended his record-setting tenure.

Until the 1970s, Assembly Speakers mostly served one-year terms.

Under the current State Constitution, seven speakers were from Hudson, six from Essex, four from Middlesex, three each from Atlantic, Bergen, Camden and Monmouth, and two each from Salem and Union.

For Sussex to get a speaker in 2028, Democrats will either have to score an upset win in the 24th district next year, and then seat that freshman as speaker; or Republicans will need to pick up 18 seats in 2027 and then choose Dawn Fantasia (R-Franklin) as the third woman to occupy the position.