Numbers
Facts
Review facts about the number of New Jersey women in politics, compiled by colleagues at Eagleton's Center for American Women and Politics:
| Level of Office | Women | Comments in 2004 |
|---|---|---|
| Congress | 0 | As a result of the 2002 election, the New Jersey Congressional delegation does not include any women. This is the first time this has occurred since 1975. Before 1975, there was only a short gap in the 1950s when New Jersey did not have a woman in the U.S. House of Representatives since Mary Teresa Norton (D-Hudson) served from 1925 to 1951. New Jersey has never had a woman U.S. Senator. |
| Governor | 0 | New Jersey is one of 26 states that has ever had a woman governor. Christine Todd Whitman, New Jersey's first and only woman governor, was the second Republican woman in the nation to be elected governor. Currently, 8 states are led by women governors (Louisiana, Michigan, Hawaii, Montana, Delaware, Arizona, Kansas and Utah). |
| Cabinet | 5 | Governor McGreevey has five women serving in his cabinet. This represents 27 percent of his 19 member cabinet. |
| Legislature | 19 | Women make up 15.8% the New Jersey Legislature. New Jersey ranks 43rd among the 50 states in the proportion of women serving in its legislature. Women hold 6 of the 40 available Senate seats and 13 of the 40 available Assembly seats. |
| Freeholders | 36 | 26.3 percent of New Jersey's 137 county freeholders are women. Five women serve as freeholder directors or chairs. Four counties have no women freeholders (Cape May, Hudson, Ocean and Warren). |
| County Officials | 23 | 34.8 percent of the 66 elected positions known as constitutional officers are held by women. They include county clerks, registers, sheriff and surrogate. |
| Mayors | 72 | 12.7 percent of New Jersey's 566 municipalities are headed by women. There are women mayors in all but three counties (Atlantic, Hudson and Salem). |
| County Party Chairs | 4 | Two women chair Democratic County Committees (Salem and Union) and two women chair Republican County Committees (Camden and Salem). In addition, The chair of the Democratic State Committee is a woman, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. |