As of the 2010 United States Census, the district had a population of 215,844, of whom 164,606 (76.3%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 177,870 (82.4%) White, 8,957 (4.1%) African American, 462 (0.2%) Native American, 12,900 (6.0%) Asian, 64 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 10,457 (4.8%) from some other race, and 5,134 (2.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 37,454 (17.4%) of the population.[3] The 25th District had 141,506 registered voters as of November 2015, of whom 62,612 (44.2%) were registered as unaffiliated, 31,717 (22.4%) were registered as Democrats, 47,047 (33.2%) were registered as Republicans and 130 (0.1%) were registered to other parties.[4]
The district had high levels of income on average, but the communities of Dover, Mine Hill, Victory Gardens are well below the state average. The district had a high percentage of Hispanic residents, with Dover having some 60% of its residents as being of Hispanic origin. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a nearly 2–1 margin.[5][6]
Apportionment history
The first iteration of District 25 came in 1973 upon the creation of the statewide 40-district legislative map. The 25th at that time traveled from Maplewood along the western border of Essex County to Fairfield Township (also including North Caldwell, Passaic County's Wayne Township, and Lincoln Park and Pequannock Township in Morris County.[7] In the next redistricting in 1981, the district became based through the center of Morris County running from Harding Township through Morristown, Dover, Boonton, and Jefferson Township.[8] The shape of the district remained mostly the same in the 1991 redistricting picking up Mendham Township, Mount Arlington, and Roxbury Township, but losing Madison and Mountain Lakes.[9]
As a consequence of the New Jersey Legislative apportionment in 2011, Jefferson Township and Rockaway Township were moved to District 26. The 25th District was shifted south and west, adding Morris County GOP strongholds Mendham Borough (from District 16), Chester Borough, Chester Township and Washington Township (from District 24); and Bernardsville in Somerset County (from District 16).
In the 1993 general election, former Assemblymember Gordon MacInnes defeated Republican incumbent John H. Dorsey by nearly 300 votes, making him the first Democrat in 18 years to win a legislative seat in Morris County.[16]
After Frelinghuysen took office in the United States House of Representatives in January 1995, Anthony Bucco was chosen by Morris County Republican county committee members to fill Frelinghuysen's vacant seat in the Assembly.[17] Bucco and Michael Patrick Carroll won the six-way June 1995 Republican primary to fill the district's two Assembly ballot spots, which became open when Albohn decided against running for re-election for a ninth term of office.[18] In this primary, the two winners defeated then Morris County Freeholder Chris Christie and future Assemblyman Rick Merkt.[19]
In 1997, Anthony Bucco left the Assembly to successfully contest the Democratic-held Senate seat, with Merkt taking the Assembly seat vacated by Bucco.[20]
With Merkt running for the Republican nomination for governor in 2009, the 25th District saw a contested Republican primary with incumbent Michael Patrick Carroll facing Tony Bucco and the younger Bucco's brother-in-law Douglas Cabana, a member of the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Bucco and Carroll won the two ballot spots and were elected in the general election.[21]
In 2011, Michael Patrick Carroll and Tony Bucco retained their seats in the Assembly, defeating Democratic challengers Gale Heiss-Colucci and George Stafford, while Anthony Bucco retained his Senate seat over challenger Rick Thoeni.[22]
^via Associated Press. "", The Press of Atlantic City, January 12, 1998. Accessed September 7, 2010. "Republican Rick Merkt won the Morris County seat left vacant by Bucco, and Republican Peter J. Biondi takes Kavanaugh's seat in Somerset County."