Gina Trish

Gina Trish

Democratic Party

Education

Bachelor's

George Washington University

Personal

Profession

Professor

Gina Trish was a 2017 Democratic candidate for District 24 of the New Jersey General Assembly.

Biography

Trish earned a degree from George Washington University. Her professional experience includes working as a professor of design and art history at Centenary University and as an independent design professional.

Campaign themes

2017

Trish and Kate Matteson's shared campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“	Fixing Our Mains Streets, Bridges & Tunnels Nearly every town in our District has landmarks, bridges, trails and structures that are registered on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. It is one of the unique features of our rural region that makes us such a desirable place to live. So much to protect and maintain, yet we aren’t keeping up. One-third of New Jersey’s bridges are considered unsafe for travel. When Trenton stalls our infrastructure projects, we all suffer the consequences. Local governments are struggling to keep up with the aging demands of our failing infrastructure. Many towns are in need of public sewers. This neglect, decade after decade, comes at a price. New residents and businesses will not come when our main streets, roads, tunnels and bridges are crumbling. Simply put, fixing infrastructure helps attract new residents and businesses, raises property values, increases home sales and boosts our quality of life. Kate and Gina will provide strong advocacy in Trenton to come up with viable solutions to alleviate this systemic problem without placing the burden on commuters or the middle class. Environmental Assets & Challenges New Jersey’s 24th District boasts some of the most pristine and treasured places in New Jersey for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. The Western part of the district is home to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area and Appalachian Trail, a national treasure. To the East, the Highlands Recreation area reservoirs provide drinking water to more than half of the State’s population. We live in an area and at a time where the environment needs to be protected. This is an issue that impacts our quality of life as well as the economic prosperity of our district. Important issues such as safe-guarding water quality and protection of the natural beauty of our district are of utmost importance to Gina and Kate. If we have the privilege to represent the residents of District 24 in Trenton, we will always support legislation that enhances environmental protection efforts that directly impact our people first. Investing in Education The topic of school funding is being heavily debated in the State Legislature. The amount of funding each school receives is based on criteria and guidelines set by New Jersey’s School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA). Since taking office in 2009, Governor Christie has underfunded schools by approximately $1 Billion each year, totalling $8 billion dollars as of 2016. Schools have not been properly funded since the implementation of the SFRA. Therefore, the first goal must be to fund our schools fully and fairly according to this formula so that ALL students in our public schools can thrive and succeed. Curriculum Development We fully support integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) education technology in the classroom. These cutting edge programs will make our children more competitive as they enter the workforce. This full integration of technology and education in the district will attract new families and potentially bring in more companies from the tech industry to our District. This will not only enhance our district financially, but will make our children more competitive in the job market. Health Care in our District The Affordable Healthcare Act was a step in the right direction toward providing more Americans with the vital coverage we all deserve. The implementation of the ACA and New Jersey’s choice to expand Medicaid covered hundreds of thousands of residents who were formerly uninsured. Taking advantage of federal funds has provided financial advantages for New Jersey. It can not be underestimated how crucial Medicaid is to the residents of our district. We will champion efforts to make sure those who have received coverage through ACA or Medicaid Expansion continue to be insured. We will strengthen regulations on insurance providers in New Jersey to ensure that costs and coverage remain fair and affordable. We will be innovative with solutions at the state level. We must maximize outreach and enrollment efforts. We should also explore the use of alternative payment models and new revenue streams. Health care is an important issue. We all deserve to be able to keep our families healthy and get care when we need it, without worrying about falling into debt. Gina and Kate will work relentlessly to contribute positive solutions toward the improvement of health care services in our district.	”
—Gina Trish and Kate Matteson

Elections

2017

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2017

General election

Elections for the New Jersey General Assembly took place in 2017. All 80 seats were up for election. State assembly members are elected to two-year terms. The general election took place on November 7, 2017. A primary election took place on June 6, 2017. The filing deadline for the primary election was April 3, 2017. Legislative districts in the New Jersey General Assembly are multi-member districts, with two representatives in each district. In Democratic and Republican primary elections, the top two candidates move forward to the general election, and the top two candidates in the general election are declared the winners. The following candidates ran in the New Jersey General Assembly District 24 general election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 24 General Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Parker Space Incumbent	30.67%	33,873
	Republican	Harold Wirths	27.91%	30,820
	Democratic	Kate Matteson	20.33%	22,456
	Democratic	Gina Trish	18.29%	20,200
	Green	Aaron Hyndman	1.42%	1,568
	Green	Kenny Collins	1.37%	1,518
Total Votes				110,435
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Democratic primary election

Kate Matteson and Gina Trish defeated Michael Pirog in the New Jersey General Assembly District 24 Democratic primary election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 24 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kate Matteson	46.49%	5,997
Gina Trish	41.97%	5,414
Michael Pirog	11.54%	1,489
Total Votes		12,900
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Republican primary election

Incumbent Parker Space and Harold Wirths defeated Nathan Orr and David Atwood in the New Jersey General Assembly District 24 Republican primary election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 24 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Parker Space Incumbent	40.16%	11,149
Harold Wirths	35.45%	9,842
Nathan Orr	13.64%	3,787
David Atwood	10.75%	2,983
Total Votes		27,761
Source: New Jersey Department of State

See also

• State legislative elections, 2017
• New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2017
• State legislative special elections, 2017
• New Jersey General Assembly
• New Jersey State Legislature

External links

Suggest a link

• Official campaign website
• New Jersey Legislature website

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the New Jersey General Assembly

Leadership

Representatives

District 1

Antwan McClellan (R)

Erik Simonsen (R)

District 2

Don Guardian (R)

Claire Swift (R)

District 3

Dave Bailey (D)

Heather Simmons (D)

District 4

Dan Hutchison (D)

Cody Miller (D)

District 5

William Moen (D)

William Spearman (D)

District 6

Louis Greenwald (D)

Melinda Kane (D)

District 7

Carol Murphy (D)

Balvir Singh (D)

District 8

Andrea Katz (D)

Michael Torrissi (R)

District 9

Gregory Myhre (R)

Brian Rumpf (R)

District 10

Paul Kanitra (R)

Gregory McGuckin (R)

District 11

Margie Donlon (D)

Luanne Peterpaul (D)

District 12

Robert Clifton (R)

Alex Sauickie (R)

District 13

Victoria Flynn (R)

Gerard Scharfenberger (R)

District 14

Wayne DeAngelo (D)

Tennille McCoy (D)

District 15

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)

Anthony Verrelli (D)

District 16

Mitchelle Drulis (D)

Roy Freiman (D)

District 17

Joseph Danielsen (D)

Kevin Egan (D)

District 18

Robert Karabinchak (D)

Sterley Stanley (D)

District 19

Craig Coughlin (D)

Yvonne Lopez (D)

District 20

Reginald Atkins (D)

Annette Quijano (D)

District 21

Michele Matsikoudis (R)

Nancy Muñoz (R)

District 22

Linda Carter (D)

James Kennedy (D)

District 23

John DiMaio (R)

Erik Peterson (R)

District 24

Dawn Fantasia (R)

Michael Inganamort (R)

District 25

Christian Barranco (R)

Aura Dunn (R)

District 26

Brian Bergen (R)

Jay Webber (R)

District 27

Rosy Bagolie (D)

Alixon Collazos-Gill (D)

District 28

Garnet Hall (D)

Cleopatra Tucker (D)

District 29

Eliana Marin (D)

Shanique Speight (D)

District 30

Sean Kean (R)

Avi Schnall (D)

District 31

William Sampson (D)

Barbara Stamato (D)

District 32

John Allen (D)

Jessica Ramirez (D)

District 33

Julio Marenco (D)

Gabriel Rodriguez (D)

District 34

Carmen Morales (D)

Michael Venezia (D)

District 35

Alaa Abdelaziz (D)

Shavonda Sumter (D)

District 36

Clinton Calabrese (D)

Gary Schaer (D)

District 37

Shama Haider (D)

Ellen Park (D)

District 38

Lisa Swain (D)

Chris Tully (D)

District 39

Robert Auth (R)

John Azzariti (R)

District 40

Al Barlas (R)

Christopher DePhillips (R)

Democratic Party (52)

Republican Party (28)