Michele Matsikoudis

Michele Matsikoudis

Republican Party

Candidate, New Jersey General Assembly District 21

New Jersey General Assembly District 21

Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

3

Compensation

Base salary

$49,000/year

Per diem

$No per diem is paid

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 7, 2023

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

Rosemont College

Personal

Profession

Business executive

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Official Twitter

Official Instagram

Official YouTube

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Michele Matsikoudis (Republican Party) is a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, representing District 21. She assumed office on January 11, 2022. Her current term ends on January 13, 2026.

Matsikoudis (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 21. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. She advanced from the Republican primary on June 10, 2025.

Matsikoudis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Michele Matsikoudis earned a bachelor's degree from the Rosemont College. Her career experience includes working as a business executive.

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Matsikoudis was assigned to the following committees:

• Aging and Senior Services Committee
• Community Development and Affairs Committee
• Education Committee
• Public Schools Committee

Elections

2025

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Incumbent Michele Matsikoudis, incumbent Nancy Muñoz, Vincent Kearney, and Andrew Macurdy are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Michele Matsikoudis (R)
		Nancy Muñoz (R)
		Vincent Kearney (D)
		Andrew Macurdy (D)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Andrew Macurdy and Vincent Kearney advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andrew Macurdy	51.1	17,510
✔		Vincent Kearney	48.9	16,786

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,296
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Incumbent Nancy Muñoz and incumbent Michele Matsikoudis advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nancy Muñoz	50.1	12,470
✔		Michele Matsikoudis	49.9	12,433

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,903
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Steven Spurr (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2023

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2023

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Incumbent Nancy Muñoz and incumbent Michele Matsikoudis defeated Elizabeth Graner and Chris Weber in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nancy Muñoz (R)	26.1	33,146
✔		Michele Matsikoudis (R)	25.7	32,607
		Elizabeth Graner (D)	24.1	30,643
		Chris Weber (D)	24.1	30,615

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 127,011
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Elizabeth Graner and Chris Weber advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elizabeth Graner	50.5	8,552
✔		Chris Weber	49.5	8,375

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,927
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Incumbent Nancy Muñoz and incumbent Michele Matsikoudis advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nancy Muñoz	50.0	8,705
✔		Michele Matsikoudis	50.0	8,693

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,398
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Matsikoudis in this election.

2021

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2021

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Incumbent Nancy Muñoz and Michele Matsikoudis defeated Elizabeth Graner and Anjali Mehrotra in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nancy Muñoz (R)	27.0	43,708
✔		Michele Matsikoudis (R)	26.3	42,557
		Elizabeth Graner (D)	23.6	38,207
		Anjali Mehrotra (D)	23.1	37,449

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 161,921
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Elizabeth Graner and Anjali Mehrotra advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on June 8, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elizabeth Graner	50.7	9,763
✔		Anjali Mehrotra	49.3	9,504

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,267
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ileana Montes (D)
• William Harmer (D)
• Scott Salmon (D)
• Bibi Taylor (D)
• Harrison Clewell (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 (2 seats)

Michele Matsikoudis and incumbent Nancy Muñoz defeated Jennifer Makar in the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 21 on June 8, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michele Matsikoudis	43.6	8,478
✔		Nancy Muñoz	42.7	8,302
	Submit photo	Jennifer Makar	13.6	2,652

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,432
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Steven Spurr (R)
• Peter Kane (R)

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Michele Matsikoudis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Matsikoudis' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Michele Matsikoudis currently serves as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the 21st Legislative District, which includes portions of Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, and Union Counties. In the Assembly, Michele is a leading voice on issues ranging from affordability, to accessibility, to K-12 education. Michele is committed to governing in a pragmatic and practical way, focused on returning transparency and accountability to Trenton. She has built strong partnerships with caucus members and has worked across party lines to reach common-sense solutions and achieve real progress for residents. Michele has also established a strong reputation for providing quality constituent services to her residents.

Michele’s guiding mission in the Assembly is to make District 21 a better and more affordable place to live, work, and learn. She has been a trailblazer throughout her professional career, often finding herself as one of the only women in the room while she worked for some of the most prominent financial institutions in the country. Now, as an Assemblywoman and former Councilwoman, Michele actively works to support and inspire the next generation of women leaders at the state and local levels.

Today, Michele lives in New Providence alongside her husband of more than 25 years, John. The couple adores their three young adult children, John, Lillian, and William.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• As the cost of living in New Jersey continues to rise, one of my top priorities in Trenton is working to make District 21 a more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family. I have sponsored legislation to provide lasting property tax relief that maintains strong school funding levels (A1125), signed onto innovative legislation to index state income tax brackets for inflation and prevent your tax rate from rising (A977), and proposed creating a competitive tax credit system that incentivizes high-achieving young people to stay in New Jersey (A299).
• Every family deserves to feel safe in their community, but an increase in motor vehicle thefts and associated home break-ins, as well as general public safety concerns, have made that a growing challenge in our area. This session, I was proud to co-sponsor a bill that was signed into law to help combat retail theft (A4755), and I'm also a strong proponent of a bill that I introduced to combine tough but fair revisions to our criminal statutes with compassionate aid to at-risk youth (A3806). I will continue to work alongside partners in local law enforcement to ensure that our officers have the tools and support they need to improve and maintain public safety.
• Unelected judges currently have far too much control over our towns when it comes to high-density housing requirements. I've sponsored ACR28 to ensure that only the Legislature may determine municipal housing obligations, giving residents, through their elected representatives, a clear voice in this critical planning process once again. I'm also proposing that our state government provide municipalities with the opportunity to grant preference to seniors, veterans, and current residents when allocating affordable units. I look forward to remaining a strong voice for protecting our communities against overdevelopment in the years ahead.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

On my campaign website, you'll see detailed information on the wide range of issues on which I'm making a difference in Trenton, including: affordability, accessibility, K-12 education, higher education, human trafficking, improving transportation infrastructure, mental health, military and veterans' affairs, overdevelopment, and supporting survivors of sexual assault.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I’m grateful to work alongside a number of outstanding, hard-working women on both sides of the aisle in the Assembly. I really do believe that young girls who visit our State House have so many role models to see and be inspired by. But of course, there’s still a gender gap when it comes to our elected officials, and we have plenty more work to do to increase the number of women in government. I think that all of us currently in office have a real responsibility to encourage more women to raise their hands, step forward, and make the leap of running for office. For me, that’s meant sitting down with as many women as I can who are involved in their communities to offer myself as a resource to them and really encourage them to take that step and run for higher office. That type of proactive outreach – by men and women elected on both sides of the aisle – is what’s going to help us eliminate that gender gap once and for all.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

I am committed to governing in a pragmatic and practical way, which means not only building strong partnerships with members in my own caucus, but also working across party lines to reach common-sense solutions and achieve real progress for residents.

What is the first bill you would introduce if elected?

I'm a passionate champion of those who have served our country in uniform, and so I will be forever proud that my very first bill to be signed into law was legislation designed to help provide veterans with a clearer on-ramp into the civilian workforce as licensed practical nurses. This bill received five unanimous votes before heading to the Governor’s desk. Today, I’m proud to say that I have sponsored or co-sponsored over 50 bills and resolutions that have been signed into law!

What committees interest you?

I'm proud to serve as a member of four different Committees in the General Assembly: Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture; Education; Higher Education; and the Joint Committee on Public Schools.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I'm a strong proponent of transparent and accountable leadership in the Assembly. I strive to lead by example, aiming to proactively keep residents informed of my work through monthly newsletters, weekly "Mondays with Michele" video updates, and near-daily social media posts on my official channels. I've also voted in support of these good governance priorities in Trenton, opposing the recent changes undercutting our state's Open Public Records Act and the crucial transparency that this bedrock statute has been intended to provide.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2023

Michele Matsikoudis did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.

2021

Michele Matsikoudis did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Michele Matsikoudis campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2023	New Jersey General Assembly District 21	Won general	$189,631	$0
2021	New Jersey General Assembly District 21	Won general	$143,551	$0
Grand total			$333,182	$0
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in New Jersey

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of New Jersey scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].
In 2024, the New Jersey State Legislature was in session from January 9 to December 19.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].
In 2023, the New Jersey State Legislature was in session from January 10 to January 8. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].
In 2022, the New Jersey State Legislature was in session from January 11 to December 31.

See also

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Candidate

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New Jersey General Assembly District 21

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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)