Shirley Turner is expected to become Senate President Pro-Tempore when the new legislature takes office at noon tomorrow, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
Turner, a Mercer County Democrat, was the choice of Senate President Nicholas Scutari, who pushed for her to become part of his leadership team. She replaces Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City), who has been away from the statehouse since June 2022 as a result of cognitive health issues and did not seek re-election.
The retirement of Richard J. Codey (D-Roseland) after fifty years in Trenton makes Turner the senior Democratic member of the New Jersey State Senate. She took office in January 1998 after ousting two-term State Sen. Richard LaRossa (R-Ewing).
Because new legislators are sworn in by district, Turner, who represents the 15th, became a senator just minutes before Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge) of the 19th. Vitale, elected in 1997 when James E. McGreevey gave up his Senate seat to challenge Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, was re-elected last year to a ninth term. He is the longtime chairman of the Senate Health Committee.
The new Dean of the Legislature is a Republican, Robert Singer (R-Lakewood). He went to the Senate in September 1993, following the death of John Dimon (R-Florence).
Unlike the U.S. Senate, the Pro-Tempore post is not based on seniority and is picked by the full Senate.
At age 82, Turner also becomes the oldest member of the State Senate tomorrow.
Turner served as a Mercer County freeholder from 1983 to 1986, and was elected to the State Assembly in 1993; she defeated John W. Hartmann (R-West Windsor), who was elected at age 24 in the 1991 anti-Florio GOP landslide. She ousted LaRossa by 4,365 votes, 54%-46%, in 1997.
As President Pro-Tempore, Turner is fifth in the line of succession to the governorship, behind Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, Scutari, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, and Attorney General Matt Platkin. The Commissioner of Transportation follows the Attorney General but is not in the current line.
The retirement of 88-year-old State Sen. Samuel Thompson (D-Old Bridge) will also leave Turner as the oldest member of the legislature.