District Description

The 37th district is composed entirely of municipalities in Bergen county, and includes about a quarter of the County’s residents. Hackensack, the county seat, and Teaneck are the largest municipalities, with 42,677 and 39,260 residents respectively, according to the 2000 US Census. Democrats hold about a two-to-one advantage over Republicans in the percentage of registered voters, and Democrats currently hold all three legislative seats.

The district population included 16.6 percent African American residents, according to the 2000 US Census, with the highest percentages in Englewood, Hackensack, and Teaneck.  The Asian American population has been growing, and the district now ranks fourth highest of the 40 districts with 13.4 percent Asian population as of the 2000 Census. Ridgefield Park, Bergenfield, Englewood Cliffs, Leonia and Tenafly have the highest percentages of Asian Americans. Hispanics comprised 16.9 percent of the district population as of the 2000 Census, the ninth highest percentage of all districts, and made up over one-fifth of the population of Hackensack, Ridgefield Park, Bogota and Englewood. Median household income as of 1999 ranged from $90,931 in Tenafly to $48,015 in Palisades Park.  The district also has one of the highest percentages of Jewish residents, but the relative proportion within the district has been declining as other groups, notably Asian Americans and Hispanics, have grown more rapidly in recent years. The largest employers of district residents include Hackensack University Medical Center; Valley Hospital; Medco Health Services; Quest Diagnostics; and Holy Name Hospital.

In September 2005, incumbent Democratic Senator Byron Baer unexpectedly resigned due to illness (and subsequently died in June 2007), provoking a contest for the Democratic nomination to run in the special election in November 2005 for his remaining term. Democratic Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg ultimately gained the interim appointment to his seat and the Party nomination to run in the special election over Hackensack Police Chief Kenneth Zisa in an election by the Democratic district committee; her victory came, however, only after a court decision ordered that 5 disputed votes be counted that reversed the intial 4-vote margin for Zisa and gave Weinberg the Senate seat by 1-vote, with a 115-114 final result. The Weinberg-Zisa contest also featured a split between then US Senator Jon Corzine, who endorsed Weinberg, and powerful Bergen Democratic chair Joseph Ferriero, who supported Zisa. Weinberg went on to easily defeat the Republican candidate, Dr. Robert Lebovics, in the November election. Valerie Vainieri Huttle, a licensed funeral director with her family-owned funeral home who ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for the Senate in 1997, was selected to run for Weinberg's vacated Assembly seat, and also was easily elected. Incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, now serving his fifth term, is a law enforcement consultant and former Bergen County Sheriff and Undersheriff.

In the 2007 primary election, Bergen Democratic chair Joseph Ferriero initially attempted to advance a slate to oppose the Democratic incumbents made up of Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, who would challenge Weinberg along with Assembly candidates Ken Zisa and Cid Wilson. Ferreriero dropped his plan, however, after Governor Corzine endorsed Weinberg. In the November 2007 general election, Senator Weinberg and Assembly incumbents Huttle and Johnson were easily re-elected over their Republican opponents. Senator Weinberg is a member of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens and State Government Committees in the 2008-09 session. Assemblyman Johnson chairs the Law and Public Safety Committee and is a member of the Budget and Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committees. Assemblywoman Huttle is vice chair of the Appropriations Committee and serves on the Consumer Affairs and Environment and Solid Waste Committees.

What is today Bergen County was settled by the Dutch, French, Scotch, German, English and others, but thedominat influence in the county was predominantly from the Dutch. Beginning in 1640, the Bergen Dutch were an agricultural community who settled and farmed the valleys of the Hackensack, Saddle and Passaic Rivers, with the county deriving its name from the resort village of Bergen on the North Sea. Dutch influence continued even after the Dutch government under Peter Stuyvesant based in Nieuw Amsterdam surrendered control of New York and New Jersey to the British in 1664. The area remained primarily agricultural until about the middle of the nineteenth century, when the railroads began to open the area for commuting, with wealthy merchants, bankers and lawyers from the cities establishing summer or year-round homes in the County. See History of Bergen County, Chris Goff. In the 20th century, motor vehicle transportation further increased the area's attraction for commuting to New York City, particularly with the opening in 1931 of the George Washington Bridge. Transportation issues continue to be major topics of concern for residents of the District.