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New Jersey General Assembly District 28

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New Jersey General Assembly District 28
Incumbents
Assumed office: January 9, 2024
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.[1]

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:[2]

  • 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[3]
SalaryPer diem
$49,000/yearNo 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.[4][5]

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


District map

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.[6] The commission voted 9-2 to approve the maps. Thomas Kean Jr. (R) and Cosmo A. Cirillo (D) were the two dissenting votes.[7] 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."[6] 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:[8]

  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.[8]

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.[8]

State law requires that state legislative districts meet the following criteria:[8]

  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.[8]

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

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

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 Connection = 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
Image of Cleopatra Tucker
Cleopatra Tucker
 
38.7
 
14,108
Chigozie U. Onyema
 
36.9
 
13,456
Garnet Hall
 
24.5
 
8,932

Total votes: 36,496
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

No Republican candidates ran in the primary.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

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
Image of Cleopatra Tucker
Cleopatra Tucker (D)
 
46.3
 
19,094
Garnet Hall (D)
 
45.2
 
18,637
Joy Bembry-Freeman (R)
 
4.6
 
1,902
Willie Jetti (R)
 
3.9
 
1,600

Total votes: 41,233
Candidate Connection = 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)

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
Garnet Hall
 
41.0
 
8,520
Image of Cleopatra Tucker
Cleopatra Tucker
 
39.6
 
8,237
Image of Frank McGehee
Frank McGehee
 
19.4
 
4,025

Total votes: 20,782
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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
Joy Bembry-Freeman
 
53.0
 
274
Willie Jetti
 
47.0
 
243

Total votes: 517
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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
Image of Ralph Caputo
Ralph Caputo (D)
 
39.2
 
32,797
Image of Cleopatra Tucker
Cleopatra Tucker (D)
 
39.1
 
32,719
Monique Headen (R)
 
10.8
 
9,063
Anthony D'Angelo (R)
 
10.8
 
9,005

Total votes: 83,584
Candidate Connection = 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 incumbent Ralph Caputo advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 8, 2021.

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

Total votes: 17,330
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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
Anthony D'Angelo
 
51.2
 
1,386
Monique Headen
 
48.8
 
1,320

Total votes: 2,706
Candidate Connection = candidate completed 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
Image of Ralph Caputo
Ralph Caputo (D)
 
41.4
 
16,234
Image of Cleopatra Tucker
Cleopatra Tucker (D)
 
40.8
 
15,998
Joy Bembry-Freeman (R)
 
8.4
 
3,282
Antonio Pires (R)
 
7.7
 
3,025
Derrick Ross (Independent)
 
1.6
 
627

Total votes: 39,166
Candidate Connection = 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 incumbent Ralph Caputo defeated Stephen Burd in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 28 on June 4, 2019.

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

Total votes: 9,494
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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
Joy Bembry-Freeman
 
51.8
 
515
Antonio Pires
 
48.2
 
479

Total votes: 994
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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.[9] 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.[10] The following candidates ran in the New Jersey General Assembly District 28 general election.[11][12]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 General Election, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Ralph Caputo Incumbent 42.70% 30,084
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png 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.[13][14]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Cleopatra Tucker Incumbent 51.84% 11,229
Green check mark transparent.png 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.[15][14]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png James Boydston 50.14% 865
Green check mark transparent.png 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.[16] 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.[17][18][19][20][21]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 General Election, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngRalph Caputo Incumbent 43.2% 9,512
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngCleopatra 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.[22][23][24][25]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 28 General Election, 2013
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngRalph Caputo Incumbent 38.9% 26,221
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngCleopatra 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.[26][27][28]

New Jersey General Assembly District 28 General Election, 2011
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngCleopatra Tucker Incumbent 38.2% 14,002
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngRalph 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

External links

Footnotes

  1. New Jersey Constitution, "Article IV, Section II (2.)," accessed February 10, 2021
  2. NJ.gov, "PETITION FILING INSTRUCTION SHEET 2025 PRIMARY ELECTION NEW JERSEY GENERAL ASSEMBLY," accessed May 23, 2025
  3. National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
  4. New Jersey Legislature, "Our Legislature," accessed February 10, 2021
  5. New Jersey Legislature, "New Jersey Constitution," accessed February 10, 2021 (Article IV, Section 4, (1))
  6. 6.0 6.1 New Jersey Monitor, "Democrats, GOP agree on new legislative map for N.J.," February 18, 2022
  7. Insider NJ, "Redistricting Commission Finalizes Legislative Map by 9-2 Vote," February 18, 2022
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 All About Redistricting, "New Jersey," accessed May 6, 2015
  9. New Jersey Secretary of State, "2017 Primary Election Timeline," accessed March 21, 2017
  10. New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly for Primary Election, June 6, 2017," accessed April 13, 2017
  11. New Jersey Department of State, "Candidates for General Assembly for General Election 11/07/2017 Election," accessed September 14, 2017
  12. New Jersey Department of State, "2017 official general election results," accessed November 30, 2017
  13. New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official Candidate List," April 6, 2017
  14. 14.0 14.1 New Jersey Division of Elections, “2017 official primary election results for general assembly,” accessed July 13, 2017
  15. New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official Candidate List," April 6, 2017
  16. New Jersey Department of Elections, "2015 Primary Election Timeline," accessed February 2, 2015
  17. New Jersey Department of State, "Official candidate list for June 2 primary," accessed May 22, 2015
  18. New Jersey Department of State, "Unofficial primary election results," accessed June 3, 2015
  19. New Jersey Department of State, "Official list for candidate for General Assembly," accessed August 10, 2015
  20. New Jersey Department of State, "Official primary results for General Assembly," accessed August 10, 2015
  21. New Jersey Department of State, "Official general election results for General Assembly," accessed December 7, 2015
  22. New Jersey Department of Elections, "Official Primary Election Results," accessed July 26, 2013
  23. New Jersey Department of State, "Official general election candidates," September 9, 2013
  24. Associated Press, "New Jersey - Summary Vote Results," November 6, 2013
  25. New Jersey Department of State, "2013 Official General Election results," accessed December 6, 2013
  26. New Jersey Department of State, “2011 Official General Assembly Primary Candidate List,” accessed December 5, 2013
  27. New Jersey Department of State, “2011 Official General election results,” accessed December 5, 2013
  28. New Jersey Department of State, “2011 Official Primary election results,” accessed December 5, 2013


Current members of the New Jersey General Assembly
Leadership
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 14
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
Aura Dunn (R)
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
Sean Kean (R)
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
Al Barlas (R)
Democratic Party (52)
Republican Party (28)