Annette Quijano

Annette M. Quijano (/kiˈhɑːnoʊ/, born July 4, 1962^[3]) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 20th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since September 25, 2008, having been selected by Union County Democrats to succeed Neil M. Cohen, who resigned on July 28, 2008, amid allegations of child pornography on an official computer.^[4]

Annette Quijano
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 20th District
Incumbent
Assumed office September 25, 2008 Serving with Reginald Atkins
Preceded by	Neil M. Cohen
Deputy Majority Leader of the New Jersey General Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office January 10, 2012
Leader	Louis Greenwald
Preceded by	Joan Voss[1]
Chair of the New Jersey General Assembly Committee on the Judiciary
Incumbent
Assumed office January 9, 2018
Preceded by	John F. McKeon[2]
Personal details
Born	(1962-07-04) July 4, 1962 (age 62) New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Residence(s)	Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	Rutgers University (BS) Rutgers School of Law–Newark (JD)
Occupation	Municipal prosecutor
Website	Legislative Website

Early life

Quijano is a native of New Jersey, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents. She is a resident of Elizabeth.

Quijano graduated from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Management and earned her Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1991.^[5][6] She served clerkships at New Jersey Superior Court in Newark, and in Trenton at both the Office of the Governor's Counsel and the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate in Trenton. She has bar admissions in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.^[7][8] She is currently a municipal prosecutor for the City of Elizabeth.^[9] She has worked as a Compliance Manager for Prudential/ Aetna U.S. Healthcare and as an attorney in civil practice. She served as Chief of Staff to State Senator Raymond Lesniak from 1992 to 1994, Assistant Counsel to Union County, Clerk to the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders and as the Assistant Counsel to Governors Jim McGreevey, Richard Codey and Jon Corzine.^[10] Quijano has served on the United Way Hispanic Advisory Council of Union County, the Governor's Working Group for Hispanic Affairs, a Legal Services committee in Elizabeth, and as a Commissioner for New Jersey's Congressional Redistricting efforts. She is the recipient of the Excellence in State Government Leadership and the Women of Excellence in Government awards and mentors young adults to consider law and graduate school in her free time.^[10]

New Jersey Assembly

Quijano is the first woman and first minority to represent the 20th District. Quijano was selected by a convention of Union County Democrats over Patricia Perkins-Auguste by a vote of 87–82 to replace the vacant seat of Neil Cohen who resigned. Cohen resigned after staffers for then Assemblyman Joseph Cryan and then Senator Raymond Lesniak found child pornography on Cohen's computer.^[11] She was sworn in on September 25, 2008. She has been serving as General Assembly Deputy Majority Leader and Chairwoman of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee. This is in addition to serving as a member of the Labor Committee.^[5] In June 2017, Quijano introduced a bill to designate Streptomyces griseus as New Jersey's State Microbe, to be added to the state's other state symbols. S. griseus was chosen for this honor because it is a New Jersey native that made unique contributions to healthcare and scientific research worldwide. A strain of S. griseus that produced the antibiotic streptomycin was discovered in New Jersey in 1916 and developed into an antibiotic by a Rutgers University team by Albert Schatz and Selman Waksman in 1943.^[12] A companion bill was introduced in the Senate in May 2017 by Samuel D. Thompson. ^[13]

Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:^[5]

• Consumer Affairs (as vice-chair)
• Housing
• Labor

District 20

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.^[14] The representatives from the 20th District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:^[15]

• Senator Joseph Cryan (D)
• Assemblyman Reginald Atkins (D)
• Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D)

Electoral history

New Jersey Assembly

20th Legislative District General Election, 2023^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (incumbent)	12,280	42.7
	Democratic	Reginald Atkins (incumbent)	12,104	42.1
	Republican	Ramon Hernandez	4,380	15.2
Total votes			28,764	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Democratic hold

20th legislative district general election, 2021^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (incumbent)	26,276	50.77%
	Democratic	Reginald Atkins	25,477	49.23%
Total votes			51,753	100.0
	Democratic hold

New Jersey general election, 2019^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	13,173	40.75	4.65
	Democratic	Jamel Holley (Incumbent)	12,437	38.48	6.12
	Republican	Charles Donnelly	3,496	10.82	0.82
	Republican	Ashraf Hanna	3,218	9.96	9.96
Total votes			'53,372'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2017^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	24,221	45.4	6.0
	Democratic	Jamel Holley (Incumbent)	23,790	44.6	6.8
	Republican	Joseph G. Aubourg	5,361	10.0	1.7
Total votes			'53,372'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2015^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	12,061	39.4	3.9
	Democratic	Jamel Holley (Incumbent)	11,568	37.8	1.5
	Republican	Stephen E. Kozlovich	3,593	11.7	2.8
	Republican	Roger Stryeski	3,398	11.1	2.6
Total votes			30,620	100.0

New Jersey general election, 2013^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joseph Cryan (Incumbent)	19,268	36.3	6.1
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	18,839	35.5	7.2
	Republican	Charles Donnelly	7,719	14.5	0.1
	Republican	Christopher Hackett	7,269	13.7	N/A
Total votes			'53,095'	'100.0'

New Jersey general election, 2011^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	12,116	42.7
	Democratic	Joseph Cryan (Incumbent)	12,104	42.7
	Republican	John F. Donoso	4,128	14.6
Total votes			28,348	100.0

New Jersey general election, 2009^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joseph Cryan (Incumbent)	20,607	50.7	15.5
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	20,054	49.3	12.6
Total votes			'40,661'	'100.0'

Special election, November 4, 2008^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Annette Quijano (Incumbent)	35,746	71.2
	Republican	Linda Gaglione	14,458	28.8
Total votes			50,204	100.0

References

1. "Assembly Democratic Leadership". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on May 4, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
2. "New Jersey Legislature Committees and Membership". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on November 23, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
3. "Assembly Member Annette Quijano's Biography". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
4. "In Brief: Lawyer chosen to replace disgraced Union lawmaker" Archived 2013-01-21 at archive.today, Daily Record, August 21, 2008. Accessed August 21, 2008.
5. Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D), New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 23, 2024.
6. "Rutgers School of Law - Newark Newsletter" (PDF). September 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2015. Annette Quijano '91 was appointed to fill a vacant State Assembly seat in Union county (20th Legislative District). She had been an assistant counsel to Gov. Jon Corzine.
7. "Assemblywoman Annette Quijano". N.J. Community First. 20th Legislative District Committee. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
8. "Annette Quijano". Kean University Alumni. Kean University. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
9. "Assemblywoman Annette Quijano Bio Page". NJ Assembly Majority Office. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
10. Assemblywoman-Select Annette Quijano, Community First. Accessed September 12, 2008. Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
11. Livio, Susan K. "Corzine attorney to replace Cohen", The Star-Ledger, August 21, 2008. Accessed August 21, 2008. Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
12. Assembly, No. 4900 State of New Jersey 217th Legislature Introduced June 1, 2017, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed November 30, 2017. "Sponsored By: Assemblywoman Annette Quijano District 20 (Union) Synopsis: Designates Streptomyces Griseus As New Jersey State Microbe."
13. Senate, No. 3190 State of New Jersey 217th Legislature Introduced May 15, 2017, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed November 30, 2017. "Sponsored By: Senator Samuel D. Thompson District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth And Ocean) Synopsis: Designates Streptomyces Griseus As New Jersey State Microbe."
14. New Jersey State Constitution 1947 (Updated Through Amendments Adopted in November, 2020): Article IV, Section II, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 28, 2022.
15. Legislative Roster for District 20, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 23, 2024.
16. "Candidates for General Assembly - For GENERAL ELECTION 11/07/2023 Election" (PDF). New Jersey Department of State. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
17. "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly For GENERAL ELECTION 11/02/2021 Election" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
18. "N.J. Election 2019: Results from state Assembly races and statewide ballot question". November 6, 2019.
19. "2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
20. "2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
21. "2013-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
22. "2011-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-results-121411.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
23. "2009-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-tallies-120109.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
24. "2008-official-gen-elect-tallies-gen-assem-120208.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Retrieved April 21, 2019.

External links

• Assemblywoman Quijano's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature
• New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms - 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

New Jersey General Assembly
Preceded by Neil M. Cohen	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly for the 20th District September 25, 2008 – present With: Joseph Cryan, Jamel Holley, Reginald Atkins	Succeeded by Incumbent