State reference

How does government work in New Jersey?

New Jersey’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

120

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: New Jersey Constitution of 1947 source
In effect since: 1947 source

What may surprise you here

The governor is elected in odd-numbered years, not in the same year as most other states or the federal midterms. source
The secretary of state and attorney general are appointed by the governor and serve during the governor’s term; they are not elected. source

Legislature

Name: New Jersey Legislature source
Senate: seats: 40 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
General Assembly: seats: 80 source
General Assembly: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: N.J. Const. art. IV, sec. I, par. 1.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: No person elected governor for two successive terms may be elected to a third successive term source
Next regular election: 2029 source
Lieutenant governor: joint ticket source
Attorney general: appointed by governor source
Attorney general’s term in years: Serves during the governor’s term source
Secretary of state: appointed by governor source
Secretary of state’s term in years: Serves during the governor’s term source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Appellate Division of Superior Court source
Main trial court: Superior Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: gubernatorial appointment source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 21 source
Cities and towns: In Census Bureau statistics, New Jersey’s municipal governments are its boroughs, cities, towns and villages; townships are counted as a separate type of government (2022). source
Schools: New Jersey has Type 1 and Type 2 school districts, and Type 2 districts are governed by elected boards of education (2022). source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: County commissioner of registration or superintendent of elections source
Primary type: closed source
Regular governor elections fall in: odd source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Mikie Sherrill Democratic, in office since January 20, 2026. source

US senators for New Jersey
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Cory A. Booker	Democratic	Class 2	October 31, 2013	January 3, 2027
Andy Kim	Democratic	Class 1	December 9, 2024	January 3, 2031

Members of the House for New Jersey
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Donald Norcross	Democratic	November 12, 2014
District 2	Jefferson Van Drew	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 3	Herbert C. Conaway, Jr.	Democratic	January 3, 2025
District 4	Christopher H. Smith	Republican	January 5, 1981
District 5	Josh Gottheimer	Democratic	January 3, 2017
District 6	Frank Pallone, Jr.	Democratic	January 6, 1987
District 7	Thomas H. Kean, Jr.	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 8	Robert Menendez	Democratic	January 3, 2023
District 9	Nellie Pou	Democratic	January 3, 2025
District 10	LaMonica McIver	Democratic	September 18, 2024
District 11	Analilia Mejia	Democratic	April 20, 2026
District 12	Bonnie Watson Coleman	Democratic	January 6, 2015

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1