(TRENTON) – Lou Greenwald was chosen on Monday to continue serving as Assembly Majority Leader when the 218th Legislature convenes in January.
Greenwald, of Voorhees, became Majority Leader in 2012 after serving as Assembly Budget Committee chairman from 2002 to 2011. He will join Craig Coughlin, who will become the Assembly speaker in January, in leading what’s expected to be an expanded 54-26 Assembly Democratic majority, the party’s largest majority in the Assembly since 1978.
“I look forward to working with Craig Coughlin, Gov.-elect Phil Murphy, legislative leaders and all my colleagues as we work together to build a better future for New Jersey,” said Greenwald (D-Camden/Burlington). “The last eight years in New Jersey and the chaos coming out of Washington have left us with many difficult problems to solve, but I’m confident that this unified Democratic Party is ready to take on these challenges with renewed vigor. We will reject divisive politics and embrace doing what’s right for all New Jersey families and communities.”
Elected to the Assembly in 1996, Greenwald said he was inspired to public service by his late mother, Maria Barnaby Greenwald, the legendary first woman mayor of Cherry Hill.
“I learned the value of standing up for beliefs and bringing people together to solve problems,” Greenwald said. “We need that now more than ever. All elections are a reminder of what an honor and privilege it is to serve the people of New Jersey, but Tuesday’s results were a resounding endorsement of the agenda Craig Coughlin and I have pursued and shared with voters across the state – to increase affordability for the state’s residents and make New Jersey a more attractive and competitive place in which to live and raise a family.”
Greenwald has been the architect of auto insurance reform, overhauled the hospital charity care system, revised New Jersey’s school funding formula, led a fight to pass property tax relief credits for middle-class families, championed common sense ideas to reduce gun violence and led an effort to modernize New Jersey’s outdated voting laws.
