David Friedland Archives - New Jersey Globe

How Sacco got to the N.J. Senate

February 24, 2022 9:02 am

When Nicholas Sacco decided he wanted the 32nd district Senate seat nearly 30 years ago, two years after he became Mayor of North Bergen, he just took it. The incumbent in 1993 was Thomas Cowan of the Operating Engineers union,...

Trailblazer: Assemblyman George Richardson

January 17, 2022 12:17 amJanuary 16, 2022 10:17 pm

George C. Richardson (1931-2021) was a maverick civil rights leader who served four terms in the New Jersey State Assembly in the 1960s and 1970s. Richardson had sought to become the first Black to serve in the New Jersey Senate...

Trailblazer: Speaker S. Howard Woodson

January 17, 2022 12:13 amJanuary 16, 2022 10:16 pm

Rev. S. Howard Woodson (1916-1999) was the first Black to serve as Speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly. He held the post in 1974 and 1975. He was the first black to serve as a Speaker in any state...

James Dugan, former senator and Dem state chairman, dies at 92

December 12, 2021 3:28 pmDecember 12, 2021 7:16 pm

James P. Dugan, a former New Jersey Democratic State Chairman and state senator from Bayonne who was once among New Jersey’s most powerful political insiders, died on Sunday. He was 92 and had been in failing health. Dugan, who represented...

George Richardson, former assemblyman first elected in 1961, dies at 90

October 11, 2021 12:01 amOctober 11, 2021 10:52 pm

George C. Richardson, a maverick civil rights leader who served four terms in the New Jersey State Assembly in the 1960s and 1970s, died on September 24. He was 90. Richardson had sought to become the first Black to serve...

Sacco and Murphy are back together as North Bergen fundraiser draws 2,000 people

October 8, 2021 1:09 amOctober 8, 2021 1:30 pm

Over 2,000 people showed up at Nicholas Sacco’s fundraiser on Thursday evening, numbers that were not at all unusual for the longtime state senator and North Bergen mayor. But the impactful news of the night was the attendance of Gov....

The time five Democratic incumbents lost State Senate primaries

June 7, 2021 1:02 pmJune 8, 2021 12:34 pm

The last time a Demcoratic governor was re-elected to a second term, five Democratic state senators were ousted in primaries. That was in 1977, when the five defeats – added to two Democratic senators losing party support for re-election and...