Senator Robert M. Gordon (D) Voting-age population 177,874 | Population 222,394 | |
 | ||
Assembly members Tim Eustace (D)
Joseph Lagana (D) Registration 33.0% Democratic
21.0% Republican
45.7% unaffiliated Demographics 69.8% White
3.3% Black/African American
0.2% Native American
19.0% Asian
0.0% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
4.9% Other race
2.6% Two or more races
16.9% Hispanic | ||
New Jersey's 38th Legislative District is one of 40 districts that make up the map for the New Jersey Legislature. It covers the Bergen County municipalities of Bergenfield, Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Hasbrouck Heights, Lodi, Maywood, New Milford, Oradell, Paramus, River Edge, Rochelle Park, and Saddle Brook and the Passaic County borough of Hawthorne.
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Demographic information
As of the 2010 United States Census, the district had a population of 222,394, of whom 177,874 (80.0%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 155,330 (69.8%) White, 7,431 (3.3%) African American, 448 (0.2%) Native American, 42,309 (19.0%) Asian, 66 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 10,957 (4.9%) from some other race, and 5,853 (2.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 37,591 (16.9%) of the population.
The district had 144,971 registered voters as of December 31, 2016, of whom 66,223 (45.7%) were registered as unaffiliated, 47,896 (33.0%) were registered as Democrats, 30,449 (21.0%) were registered as Republicans and 403 (0.3%) were registered to other parties.
Political representation
The district is represented for the 2016–2017 Legislative Session (Senate, General Assembly) in the State Senate by Robert M. Gordon (D, Fair Lawn) and in the General Assembly by Tim Eustace (D, Maywood) and Joseph Lagana (D, Paramus).
District and election history
Since the creation of the 40-district legislative map in 1973, the 38th District has always included Paramus, though early in the lifetime of the 40-district map, Hackensack was also within the district. In the 1973 version of the map, and in the decade following the 1981 redistricting, Paramus and Hackensack anchored the 38th District with numerous nearby municipalities in central Bergen County compromising the remainder of the district. In the 1991 redistricting, the 38th became more of a crescent shape stretching from Cliffside Park and Palisades Park, northwest to Elmwood Park, then north and east to Paramus and Oradell. This shape was slightly modified in 2001 when that year's redistricting extended the 38th to the Hudson River picking up Fort Lee and Edgewater. The crescent shape of the district was removed in the 2011 redistricting when it changed to a T-shaped district extending out of Bergen County for the first time.
In October 2015, Anthony Cappola left the race for an Assembly seat in the 38th District and resigned from office as a member of the River Edge Borough Council, following disclosures that he had written and published a 2003 book titled Outrageous that was described as "full of racial slurs, rants and stereotypes". The Bergen County Republican Organization filed suit in Passaic County, seeking to replace Cappola's spot on the ballot with Fernando Alonso and offering to cover the $100,000 cost of reprinting ballots. Bergen County Clerk John Hogan argued that absentee ballots had already been printed and distributed, with nearly ballots already completed and submitted to the Clerk's Office. The Republicans unexpectedly dropped the effort to have the candidate replaced on October 13 and Cappola later announced his intention to continue in the race. Ultimately Cappola and his running mate Mark DiPisa were defeated by Democratic incumbents Tim Eustace and Joseph Lagana.