New Jersey General Assembly District 36

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New Jersey General Assembly District 36

Incumbents

Clinton Calabrese

Assumed office: February 8, 2018

Gary Schaer

Assumed office: 2006

New Jersey General Assembly District 36 is represented by Clinton Calabrese (D) and Gary Schaer (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 36
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

New Jersey General Assembly District 36
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 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Clinton Calabrese, incumbent Gary Schaer, Diane DeBiase, and Christopher Musto are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Clinton Calabrese (D)
		Gary Schaer (D)
		Diane DeBiase (R)
		Christopher Musto (R)

---

	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 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Gary Schaer and incumbent Clinton Calabrese advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gary Schaer	50.3	10,557
✔		Clinton Calabrese	49.7	10,449

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,006
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Christopher Musto and Diane DeBiase defeated Chris Auriemma and Craig Auriemma in the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christopher Musto	32.9	3,090
✔		Diane DeBiase	30.5	2,863
		Chris Auriemma	20.3	1,901
	Submit photo	Craig Auriemma	16.3	1,526

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 9,380
= 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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2023

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2023

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Clinton Calabrese and incumbent Gary Schaer defeated Craig Auriemma and Joseph Viso in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Clinton Calabrese (D)	30.6	18,228
✔		Gary Schaer (D)	30.3	18,072
	Submit photo	Craig Auriemma (R)	19.7	11,761
	Submit photo	Joseph Viso (R)	19.4	11,546

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,607
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Clinton Calabrese and incumbent Gary Schaer advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Clinton Calabrese	50.3	4,328
✔		Gary Schaer	49.7	4,272

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,600
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Craig Auriemma and Joseph Viso advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Craig Auriemma	50.3	2,234
✔	Submit photo	Joseph Viso	49.7	2,209

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,443
= 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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2021

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2021

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Gary Schaer and incumbent Clinton Calabrese defeated Joseph Viso and Craig Auriemma in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gary Schaer (D)	28.4	24,654
✔		Clinton Calabrese (D)	27.8	24,137
	Submit photo	Joseph Viso (R)	21.9	19,025
	Submit photo	Craig Auriemma (R)	21.9	19,008

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 86,824
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Gary Schaer and incumbent Clinton Calabrese advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 8, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gary Schaer	50.5	4,502
✔		Clinton Calabrese	49.5	4,407

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,909
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Craig Auriemma and Joseph Viso advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 8, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Craig Auriemma (Write-in)	50.2	113
✔	Submit photo	Joseph Viso (Write-in)	49.8	112

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 225
= 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

• Ana Castillo (R)

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 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Gary Schaer and incumbent Clinton Calabrese defeated Foster Lowe and Khaldoun Androwis in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gary Schaer (D)	30.8	16,747
✔		Clinton Calabrese (D)	30.5	16,622
		Foster Lowe (R)	19.4	10,561
		Khaldoun Androwis (R)	19.3	10,496

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 54,426
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Incumbent Clinton Calabrese and incumbent Gary Schaer defeated Edward Tolga Gonca in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 4, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Clinton Calabrese	47.3	3,879
✔		Gary Schaer	47.3	3,878
		Edward Tolga Gonca	5.3	437

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,194
= 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 36 (2 seats)

Khaldoun Androwis and Foster Lowe advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on June 4, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Khaldoun Androwis	50.0	1,447
✔		Foster Lowe	50.0	1,445

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,892
= 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.

2018

General election

Special general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36

Incumbent Clinton Calabrese defeated Marc Marsi in the special general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Clinton Calabrese (D)	63.8	36,914
	Submit photo	Marc Marsi (R)	36.2	20,946

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,860
= 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. Incumbent Gary Schaer (D) and incumbent Marlene Caride (D) defeated Paul Passamano (R) and Marc Marsi (R) in the New Jersey General Assembly District 36 general election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 36 General Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gary Schaer Incumbent	31.92%	22,527
	Democratic	Marlene Caride Incumbent	31.77%	22,419
	Republican	Paul Passamano	18.77%	13,245
	Republican	Marc Marsi	17.53%	12,372
Total Votes				70,563
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Democratic primary election

Incumbent Marlene Caride and incumbent Gary Schaer were unopposed in the New Jersey General Assembly District 36 Democratic primary election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 36 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Marlene Caride Incumbent	50.90%	5,990
Gary Schaer Incumbent	49.10%	5,779
Total Votes		11,769
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Republican primary election

Paul Passamano and Marc Marsi were unopposed in the New Jersey General Assembly District 36 Republican primary election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 36 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Paul Passamano	51.93%	2,006
Marc Marsi	48.07%	1,857
Total Votes		3,863
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 Gary Schaer and incumbent Marlene Caride were bracketed together and were unopposed in the Democratic primary. Forrest Elliott and James Lenoy were bracketed together and were unopposed in the Republican primary. Schaer and Caride defeated Elliott, Lenoy and Jeff Boss ("NSA DID 911") in the general election.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 36 General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gary Schaer Incumbent	33.1%	15,125
	Democratic	Marlene Caride Incumbent	32.4%	14,788
	Republican	Forrest Elliott	17.1%	7,835
	Republican	James Lenoy	16.4%	7,510
	NSA Did 911	Jeff Boss	0.9%	430
Total Votes				45,688

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 Marlene Caride (D) and incumbent Gary Schaer (D) defeated Rosina Romano (R) and Foster Lowe (R) in the general election. Schaer and Caride were bracketed together, and defeated Aharon Cohn and Sam Krause in the Democratic primary. Romano and Lowe were bracketed together, and ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

New Jersey General Assembly, District 36 General Election, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gary Schaer Incumbent	29.2%	21,131
	Democratic	Marlene Caride Incumbent	28.4%	20,520
	Republican	Rosina Romano	21.6%	15,631
	Republican	Foster Lowe	20.8%	15,014
Total Votes				72,296

New Jersey General Assembly, District 36, Democratic Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Gary Schaer Incumbent	47%	3,318
Marlene Caride Incumbent	44.4%	3,133
Sam Krause	4.4%	309
Aharon Cohn	4.2%	296
Total Votes		7,056

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. Marlene Caride (D) and incumbent Gary Schaer (D) defeated John Genovesi (R) and Sara Rosengarten (R) in the general election. Caride and Schaer were bracketed together and ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Genovesi and Rosengarten were bracketed together and ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

New Jersey General Assembly District 36 General Election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gary Schaer Incumbent	30.5%	17,262
	Democratic	Marlene Caride	28.8%	16,319
	Republican	Sara Rosengarten	20.7%	11,735
	Republican	John Genovesi	19.9%	11,256
Total Votes				56,572

Campaign contributions

From 2001 to 2023, candidates for New Jersey General Assembly District 36 raised a total of $7,826,910. Candidates who raised money in contributions earned $177,884 on average. All figures come from Follow the Money

Campaign contributions, New Jersey General Assembly District 36
Year	Amount	Candidates	Average
2023	$860,130	4	$215,033
2021	$1,198,497	4	$299,624
2011	$1,222,068	4	$305,517
2009	$1,374,976	4	$343,744
2007	$734,138	4	$183,535
2005	$700,480	7	$100,069
2003	$855,007	10	$85,501
2001	$881,614	7	$125,945
Total	$7,826,910	44	$177,884

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)