Richard Bagger

Richard Hartvig Bagger (born March 27, 1960) is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, and former State Senator who later served as chief of staff to Governor Chris Christie.^[1] He left the Christie administration in early 2012, and is now an Executive Vice President with Celgene. He is a resident of Westfield, New Jersey.

Rich Bagger
Member of the New Jersey Senate from the 21st district
In office January 8, 2002 – January 15, 2003
Preceded by	Kevin J. O'Toole
Succeeded by	Thomas Kean Jr.
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 22nd district
In office January 14, 1992 – January 8, 2002
Preceded by	Maureen Ogden
Succeeded by	Jerry Green Linda Stender
Personal details
Born	Richard Hartvig Bagger (1960-03-27) March 27, 1960 (age 64) Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	Princeton University (BA) Rutgers University, Newark (JD)

Life and career

Bagger was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. Raised in nearby Westfield, Bagger attended Westfield High School.^[2] He received an A.B. in 1982 from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law.^[3]

Bagger served as a Planning Board member, Councilman, and Mayor of Westfield, New Jersey during the 1980s and 1990s.^[3] He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly from the 22nd Legislative District in 1991, succeeding Chuck Hardwick, his longtime mentor. During his time as an assemblyman, he served as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and was elected to be Majority Conference Leader. In 2000, he declined a race to succeed Bob Franks in Congress. In 2001, he was elected to the New Jersey Senate for the 21st Legislative District. He resigned as a State Senator in 2003 in order to pursue private business interests and was succeeded by Thomas Kean Jr. Bagger remained a political leader in Union County after leaving the legislature.

Earlier in his career, Bagger was an Assistant General Counsel to Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey and practiced law with the firm of McCarter and English.^[3] After leaving the Senate, he worked as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy for Pfizer.^[3] He also was a member of the NJN Foundation Board of Trustees as well as Board Chair of the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey and the National Pharmaceutical Council.^[4] In December 2009, then-Governor-elect Chris Christie appointed Bagger as his chief of staff.^[5] He served in that role until January 2012.

Bagger served on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners, having been confirmed by the New Jersey State Senate on June 28, 2012^[6] and remained on the Board until June 2021. He was Chair of the Gateway Program Development Corporation in 2017, served on the Board of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum while a Port Authority Commissioner, and joined the Board of the Regional Plan Association in 2022.^[7]

Bagger was Executive Director of the 2016 transition planning team of Donald Trump, after Chris Christie endorsed Trump and was named Chair of the planning group.^{[8][9][10][11]} After Christie was dropped by Trump as leader of the transition team in favor of Mike Pence, Bagger left the transition team on the same day.^[8][9] In May 2017, Bagger was appointed to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships^[12] and served there until 2021.

Bagger is also an adjunct faculty member of the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University,^[13] and a Director of Tonix Pharmaceuticals,^[14] the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,^[15] and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.^[16]

Election history

2001 New Jersey general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard H. Bagger	41,539	58.6
	Democratic	Ellen Steinberg	29,342	41.4
Total votes			70,881	100.0

New Jersey general election, 1999

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Richard H. Bagger	24,405	50.4	17.9
	Republican	Alan M. Augustine	24,004	49.6	17.8
Total votes			48,409	100.0

New Jersey general election, 1997

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Richard H. Bagger	43,421	32.5	3.3
	Republican	Alan M. Augustine	42,479	31.8	3.3
	Democratic	Andrew Baron	22,368	16.7	2.5
	Democratic	Norman Albert	22,110	16.5	2.6
	Conservative	Douglas Lawless	1,688	1.3	0.8
	Conservative	Norman A. Ross	1,635	1.2	0.8
Total votes			133,701	100.0

New Jersey general election, 1995

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Richard H. Bagger	24,024	29.2	3.8
	Republican	Alan M. Augustine	23,520	28.5	3.3
	Democratic	John A. Salerno	15,782	19.2	0.3
	Democratic	Geri Samuel	15,737	19.1	2.8
	Conservative	Robert Hudak	1,700	2.1	N/A
	Conservative	Fred J. Grill	1,627	2.0	N/A
Total votes			82,390	100.0

New Jersey general election, 1993

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Richard H. Bagger	47,064	33.0	4.5
	Republican	Alan M. Augustine	45,357	31.8	6.1
	Democratic	Susan H. Pepper	26,972	18.9	6.4
	Democratic	Carlton W. Hansen, Jr.	23,252	16.3	4.1
Total votes			142,645	100.0

1991 New Jersey general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Franks	37,087	37.9
	Republican	Richard H. Bagger	36,704	37.5
	Democratic	Edward Kahn	12,241	12.5
	Democratic	Richard Kress	11,900	12.2
Total votes			97,932	100.0

References

1. Bagger Will Be Christie's Chief of Staff, Politicker NJ. Accessed December 3, 2009.
2. Lazarus, David. "Bagger Focuses Speech on Gov's Fiscal Plan; Former mayor and senator discusses role as governor's chief of staff.", Westfield, NJ Patch, April 15, 2011. Accessed December 5, 2022. "Bagger, who attended Wilson Elementary School, Roosevelt Middle School, Westfield High School and Princeton University, got his political start as a member of the Westfield Planning Board."
3. Richard H. Bagger - NJN Foundation Board of Trustees Archived 2006-12-01 at the Wayback Machine, accessed April 13, 2007.
4. "Celgene EVP Richard Bagger Elected National Pharmaceutical Council Board Chair | National Pharmaceutical Council". www.npcnow.org. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
5. Desk, Star-Ledger Continuous News (2009-12-03). "N.J. Gov.-elect Chris Christie selects Richard Bagger as chief of staff". nj. Retrieved 2022-12-28. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
6. "Board of Commissioners".
7. "RPA Welcomes Seven New Members to Board of Directors". RPA. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
8. David Smith (11 November 2016), "Chris Christie dropped as head of Trump's White House transition team", The Guardian, retrieved 12 November 2016
9. Michael D. Shear, Michael S. Schmidt, and Maggie Habermannov (11 November 2016), "Vice President-Elect Pence to Take Over Trump Transition Effort", The New York Times, retrieved 12 November 2016{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. Jeremy Diamond, Jake Tapper, Phil Mattingly and Stephen Collinson, CNN (February 26, 2016). "Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump". CNN. Retrieved February 27, 2016. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. Burns, Alexander; Haberman, Maggie (2016-06-30). "Chris Christie Becomes Powerful Figure in Donald Trump Campaign". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
12. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Key Additions to his Administration". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-30 – via National Archives.
13. "Eagleton Faculty, Staff and Visiting Associates". Eagleton Institute of Politics. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
14. "Tonix Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of Richard H. Bagger to Board of Directors". www.tonixpharma.com. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
15. "Rich Bagger | Leukemia and Lymphoma Society". www.lls.org. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
16. "Richard Bagger". U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 2019-12-19. Retrieved 2021-08-15.

Political offices
Preceded by Raymond Stone	Mayor of Westfield 1991–1992	Succeeded by Garland Boothe
New Jersey General Assembly
Preceded by Maureen Ogden	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 22nd district 1992–2002 Served alongside: Bob Franks, Alan Augustine, Tom Kean	Succeeded by Linda Stender
New Jersey Senate
Preceded by Kevin O'Toole	Member of the New Jersey Senate from the 21st district 2002–2003	Succeeded by Tom Kean