New Jersey General Assembly District 28

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New Jersey General Assembly District 28

Incumbents

Garnet Hall

Assumed office: January 9, 2024

Cleopatra Tucker

Assumed office: 2008

New Jersey General Assembly District 28 is represented by Garnet Hall (D) and Cleopatra Tucker (D).

As of the 2020 Census, New Jersey state representatives represented an average of 116,181 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 110,094 residents.

About the office

Members of the New Jersey General Assembly serve two-year terms and are not subject to term limits. New Jersey legislators assume office at noon of the second Tuesday in January following the election.

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

In order to qualify as a candidate for the New Jersey General Assembly, a candidate must:

• Be a citizen of the United States
• Be 21 years of age or older by the day of swearing in
• Be a registered voter
• Reside in the state for a minimum of two years prior to the general election
• Reside in the legislative district for one year prior to the general election

Salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024
Salary	Per diem
$49,000/year	No per diem is paid.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

If there is a vacancy in the New Jersey State Legislature, the vacancy will be filled by an interim appointment by the county leadership of the political party that holds the seat. The office will be on the ballot in the next general election, unless the vacancy occurs within 51 days of the election. If that is the case, the appointment would stand until the following general election.

See sources: New Jersey Const., Art. IV, Sec. IV(1)

Redistricting

2020 redistricting cycle

See also: Redistricting in New Jersey after the 2020 census

On February 18, 2022, the New Jersey Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted to approve a new set of state legislative maps. The commission voted 9-2 to approve the maps. Thomas Kean Jr. (R) and Cosmo A. Cirillo (D) were the two dissenting votes. The New Jersey Monitor's Nikita Biryukov wrote that the vote was "an unprecedented compromise for a commission that has historically relied on a court-appointed tiebreaker to end partisan gridlock." These maps took effect for New Jersey's 2023 legislative elections.

How does redistricting in New Jersey work? In New Jersey, congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by two distinct politician commissions. The congressional redistricting commission comprises the following 13 members:

1. The majority and minority leaders of each chamber of the New Jersey State Legislature appoint two commissioners a piece (for a total of eight members).
2. The chairs of the state's two major political parties each appoint two members to the commission (for a total of four members). Commissioners appointed by the political parties cannot be members of Congress or congressional employees.
3. The first 12 commissioners appoint the last member. This member cannot have held public office in the state within the previous five-year period. If the first 12 commissioners cannot agree on an appointment, they must submit two names to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The court must then appoint the final commissioner.

If the congressional redistricting commission fails to reach an agreement about a redistricting plan, it must submit two plans to the state Supreme Court, which must in turn select from those two plans a final map.

The state legislative redistricting commission comprises 10 members. The chairs of the state's two major political parties each appoint five members to the commission. In the event that this commission is unable to reach an agreement about a redistricting plan, the state Supreme Court may appoint a tie-breaking member.

State law requires that state legislative districts meet the following criteria:

1. Districts must be contiguous.
2. Districts "must be as nearly compact as possible."
3. Municipalities "must be kept intact, except where otherwise required by law."

There are no such requirements in place for congressional districts.

New Jersey General Assembly District 28
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

New Jersey General Assembly District 28
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Elections

2025

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker and Chigozie U. Onyema are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Cleopatra Tucker (D)
	Submit photo	Chigozie U. Onyema (D)

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	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 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker and Chigozie U. Onyema defeated incumbent Garnet Hall in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleopatra Tucker	38.7	14,108
✔	Submit photo	Chigozie U. Onyema	36.9	13,456
	Submit photo	Garnet Hall	24.5	8,932

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 36,496
= 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.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Nadirah Brown (D)

Republican primary election

No Republican candidates ran in the primary.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Toye Kumolu (R)
• Che' J.T. Colter (R)
• Willie Jetti (R)

2023

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2023

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker and Garnet Hall defeated Joy Bembry-Freeman and Willie Jetti in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleopatra Tucker (D)	46.3	19,094
✔	Submit photo	Garnet Hall (D)	45.2	18,637
	Submit photo	Joy Bembry-Freeman (R)	4.6	1,902
	Submit photo	Willie Jetti (R)	3.9	1,600

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,233
= 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.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 (2 seats)

Garnet Hall and incumbent Cleopatra Tucker defeated Frank McGehee in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Garnet Hall	41.0	8,520
✔		Cleopatra Tucker	39.6	8,237
		Frank McGehee	19.4	4,025

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 20,782
= 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 28 (2 seats)

Joy Bembry-Freeman and Willie Jetti advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Joy Bembry-Freeman	53.0	274
✔	Submit photo	Willie Jetti	47.0	243

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 517
= 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.

2021

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2021

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Ralph Caputo and incumbent Cleopatra Tucker defeated Monique Headen and Anthony D'Angelo in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ralph Caputo (D)	39.2	32,797
✔		Cleopatra Tucker (D)	39.1	32,719
	Submit photo	Monique Headen (R)	10.8	9,063
	Submit photo	Anthony D'Angelo (R)	10.8	9,005

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 83,584
= 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 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker and incumbent Ralph Caputo advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 8, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleopatra Tucker	51.0	8,840
✔		Ralph Caputo	49.0	8,490

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,330
= 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 28 (2 seats)

Anthony D'Angelo and Monique Headen advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 8, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Anthony D'Angelo	51.2	1,386
✔	Submit photo	Monique Headen	48.8	1,320

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,706
= 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.
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2019

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2019

Elections for the New Jersey General Assembly took place in 2019. The primary was on June 4, 2019, and the general election was on November 5. The filing deadline for candidates was April 1, 2019.

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Ralph Caputo and incumbent Cleopatra Tucker defeated Joy Bembry-Freeman, Antonio Pires, and Derrick Ross in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ralph Caputo (D)	41.4	16,234
✔		Cleopatra Tucker (D)	40.8	15,998
	Submit photo	Joy Bembry-Freeman (R)	8.4	3,282
	Submit photo	Antonio Pires (R)	7.7	3,025
	Submit photo	Derrick Ross (Independent)	1.6	627

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,166
= 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 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker and incumbent Ralph Caputo defeated Stephen Burd in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 4, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleopatra Tucker	48.0	4,553
✔		Ralph Caputo	45.5	4,319
		Stephen Burd	6.6	622

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 9,494
= 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 28 (2 seats)

Joy Bembry-Freeman and Antonio Pires advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 4, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Joy Bembry-Freeman	51.8	515
✔	Submit photo	Antonio Pires	48.2	479

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 994
= 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.

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 28 general election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 General Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ralph Caputo Incumbent	42.70%	30,084
	Democratic	Cleopatra Tucker Incumbent	42.08%	29,643
	Republican	Veronica Branch	6.87%	4,839
	Republican	James Boydston	6.63%	4,672
	Time for change	Joanne Miller	1.11%	782
	A New Hope	Scott Thomas Nicastro Jr.	0.61%	430
Total Votes				70,450
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Democratic primary election

Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker and incumbent Ralph Caputo were unopposed in the New Jersey General Assembly District 28 Democratic primary election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Cleopatra Tucker Incumbent	51.84%	11,229
Ralph Caputo Incumbent	48.16%	10,433
Total Votes		21,662
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Republican primary election

James Boydston and Veronica Branch were unopposed in the New Jersey General Assembly District 28 Republican primary election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
James Boydston	50.14%	865
Veronica Branch	49.86%	860
Total Votes		1,725
Source: New Jersey Department of State

2015

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2015

Elections for the New Jersey General Assembly took place in 2015. A primary election was held on June 2, 2015. The general election took place on November 3, 2015. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 30, 2015. Since the general assembly uses multi-member districts, the top two candidates from each party in the primaries advanced to the general election. Incumbent Ralph Caputo and incumbent Cleopatra Tucker were bracketed together and were unopposed in the Democratic primary. Darnel Henry and David Pinckney were bracketed together and were unopposed in the Republican primary. Caputo and Tucker defeated Henry and Pinckney in the general election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ralph Caputo Incumbent	43.2%	9,512
	Democratic	Cleopatra Tucker Incumbent	41.7%	9,186
	Republican	David Pinckney	7.5%	1,661
	Republican	Darnel Henry	7.5%	1,646
Total Votes				22,005

2013

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2013

Elections for the office of New Jersey General Assembly consisted of a primary election on June 4, 2013, and a general election on November 5, 2013. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 1, 2013. Incumbent Ralph Caputo (D) and incumbent Cleopatra Tucker (D) defeated James Boydston (R) and Peter S. Manning (R) in the general election. Caputo and Tucker were bracketed together, and ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Boydston and Manning were bracketed together, and ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 General Election, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ralph Caputo Incumbent	38.9%	26,221
	Democratic	Cleopatra G. Tucker Incumbent	38.4%	25,869
	Republican	Peter S. Manning	11.7%	7,875
	Republican	James Boydston	11.1%	7,452
Total Votes				67,417

2011

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2011

Elections for the office of New Jersey General Assembly consisted of a primary election on June 7, 2011, and a general election on November 8, 2011. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 11, 2011. Incumbent Ralph Caputo (D) and incumbent Cleopatra Tucker (D) defeated Carol Humphreys (R) and David Pinckney (R) in the general election. Tucker and Caputo were bracketed together and defeated Michael Frazzano in the Democratic Primary. Humphreys and Sajda Barlas were unopposed in the Republican primary. Barlas was replaced by Pinckney on the general election ballot.

New Jersey General Assembly District 28 General Election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Cleopatra Tucker Incumbent	38.2%	14,002
	Democratic	Ralph Caputo Incumbent	37.6%	13,786
	Republican	Carol Humphreys	12.6%	4,607
	Republican	David Pinckney	11.6%	4,258
Total Votes				36,653

Campaign contributions

From 2001 to 2023, candidates for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 raised a total of $1,239,009. Candidates who raised money in contributions earned $26,362 on average. All figures come from Follow the Money

Campaign contributions, New Jersey General Assembly District 28
Year	Amount	Candidates	Average
2023	$123,063	5	$24,613
2021	$37,892	4	$9,473
2011	$246,377	5	$49,275
2009	$204,927	7	$29,275
2007	$277,132	7	$39,590
2005	$190,684	5	$38,137
2003	$54,544	4	$13,636
2001	$104,390	10	$10,439
Total	$1,239,009	47	$26,362

See also

Suggest a link

• New Jersey State Legislature
• New Jersey State Senate
• New Jersey General Assembly
• New Jersey state legislative districts

External links

• The New Jersey State Legislature

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)