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Craig Coughlin

Craig John Coughlin (born January 31, 1958) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 19th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2010. He has served as the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018. He is the longest serving Speaker of the General Assembly in History.

Early life[edit]

Born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Coughlin grew up in South Amboy and graduated from South Amboy Middle High School in 1976.^[1] Coughlin received a B.S. degree in 1980 from St. John's University and a J.D. degree in 1983 from St. John's University School of Law.^[2]

He served on the Board of Education of the South Amboy Public Schools from 1983 to 1987. In 1987 he was elected to the South Amboy City Council, serving until 1993.^[3][4] He worked as an attorney before serving as a municipal court judge for Edison Township in 2005. He lived in Woodbridge Township, NJ and his children attended the Woodbridge Township School District.

Controversy[edit]

In 2016, shortly after attaining the position of Assembly Speaker, Coughlin formed the law firm Rainone Coughlin Minchello. Coughlin's firm includes four other attorneys who had worked for Decotiis FitzPatrick & Cole LLP, providing legal services to municipal and county governments totaling $14 million in FY2016. As of 2017, Coughlin's firm secured contracts with dozens of local municipalities totaling over $1 million.^[5]

Coughlin's law firm currently provides for-profit legal counsel to the Middlesex County Improvement Authority,^[6] and has recently acquired a $150,000 public contract with North Brunswick to fulfill the position of Municipal Attorney.^[7]

The Middlesex County Improvement Authority was awarded a $70 million contract by NJ Transit to manage the North Brunswick Train station project. In a statement made to Bloomberg News, Coughlin denies any conflicts of interest or "involvement with respect to Middlesex County’s or the improvement authority’s discussions with the state concerning North Brunswick transit village and never had any intention of performing any work in connection with this project."^[8]

New Jersey Assembly[edit]

He resigned from the court in 2009 to run for the General Assembly seat vacated by Joseph Vas, after the Democratic candidate, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, dropped out of the race. On September 8, 2009, a special convention of Middlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mate John Wisniewski.^[9]

Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010.^[10] On November 13, 2017, was selected by the Assembly Democratic Conference to be Speaker of the Assembly starting in January 2018 when the new legislative term begins.^[11]

District 19[edit]

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly.^[12] The representatives from the 19th District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:^[13]

• Senator Joe F. Vitale (D)
• Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D)
• Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez (D)

Electoral history[edit]

New Jersey general election, 2017^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin (Incumbent)	25,708	35.6	0.0
	Democratic	Yvonne Lopez	24,830	34.4	1.9
	Republican	Deepak Malhotra	10,709	14.8	0.0
	Republican	Amarjit K. Riar	9,436	13.1	0.2
	Quality of Life	William Cruz	1,488	2.1	N/A
Total votes			72,171	100.0

New Jersey general election, 2015^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Wisniewski (Incumbent)	16,159	36.3	2.6
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin (Incumbent)	15,880	35.6	4.7
	Republican	Thomas E. Maras	6,597	14.8	3.7
	Republican	Jesus Varela	5,916	13.3	3.5
Total votes			'44,552'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2013^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Wisniewski (Incumbent)	24,404	33.7	0.3
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin (Incumbent)	22,393	30.9	1.7
	Republican	Stephanie Ziemba	13,406	18.5	1.7
	Republican	Arif Khan	12,151	16.8	0.2
Total votes			'72,354'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2009^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Wisniewski (Incumbent)	24,329	28.7	4.6
	Democratic	Craig Coughlin	22,226	26.3	0.7
	Republican	Richard W. Piatkowski	17,555	20.7	0.5
	Republican	Peter Kothari	16,846	19.9	0.3
Total votes			'84,633'	'100.0'

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Assemblyman Coughlin's legislative webpage, New Jersey Legislature