Jamel Holley

Jamel Holley
Holley in 2020
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 20th District
In office
January 21, 2015 – January 11, 2022
Serving with Annette Quijano
Preceded byJoseph Cryan
Succeeded byReginald Atkins
Mayor of Roselle, New Jersey
In office
January 1, 2012 – January 21, 2015
Preceded byGarrett Smith
Succeeded byChristine Dansereau
Personal details
BornJamel Curtis Holley
(1979-09-13) September 13, 1979
PartyDemocratic
Education
Websitewww.njleg.state.nj.us/members/BIO.asp?Leg=374

Jamel Curtis Holley (born September 13, 1979) is an American Democratic Party politician from the state of New Jersey, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 20th Legislative District from 2015 to 2022. He is the first African American to represent the district, serving out the unexpired term of former Assemblyman and now State Senator Joseph Cryan, and formerly served as councilman and then mayor of Roselle, New Jersey; at age 32, he was the borough's youngest-ever mayor.[1][2][3] In 2021, Holley unsuccessfully challenged Cryan in the June 2021 New Jersey State Senate primary, losing by 29 points.

Early life

Holley graduated from Abraham Clark High School in Roselle in 1997, received a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from New Jersey City University in 2002, and earned a Master of Public Administration from Kean University in 2006.[2][3] In 2001, he was appointed as Chief of Staff to Neil M. Cohen of New Jersey's 20th Legislative District,[3] the youngest Chief of Staff for any of New Jersey's 120 legislators.

He works for Irvington as the Director of Public Works under Mayor Tony Vauss.[4]

Political career

On November 2, 2004, Holley won the General Election for Councilman at Large in the Borough of Roselle, becoming Union County's youngest Councilman at age 25. Commissioned by the New Jersey Democratic State Committee to serve as a committee member at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he won re-election to his at-large seat following year.[3][2] He made history by officiating the first gay wedding in New Jersey "forever cementing himself into the annals of queer liberation."[5]

Mayor of Roselle

Holley was elected Mayor of the Borough of Roselle in November 2011, becoming Roselle's youngest mayor in its 117-year history.[3] He ran unopposed for mayor after defeating two-term Mayor Garrett Smith in the Borough's Democratic primaries in June,[1] despite Smith having the support of U.S. Congressman Donald M. Payne of New Jersey's 10th District.[6] Holley's running mates were then-Councilman-elect Randy Sandifer and then-Councilman Yves. F. Aubourg,[1][3] Mayor Holley began his term on January 1, 2012 and was officially inaugurated on January 6, at age 32.[1] He joined nearly 50 other Union County Democrats to endorse Newark Mayor Cory Booker for his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2013, and supported Raymond Lesniak's successful bid for senate reelection in New Jersey's 20th District.[7][8]

After the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, Mayor Holley and Roselle's Borough Council submitted a formal plea to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate alleged violations of civil rights relating to the 2012 fatal shooting. Roselle was the first Union County municipality to appeal to the Obama administration for further examination of the case after Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.[9]

Same-sex marriage

On October 21, 2013, hours after a New Jersey Superior Court ruling allowing same-sex marriages to proceed, Holley officiated the wedding of Marsha Shapiro and Louise Walpin — the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit that brought marriage equality to New Jersey — at 12:01 AM at the home of State Senator Ray Lesniak in Elizabeth. The couple had been together for 24 years. The ceremony was among the first same-sex marriages performed in New Jersey history, and was photographed and reported on by The New York Times.[10]

New Jersey Assembly

Holley was unanimously chosen by Democratic committee members of the 20th district to fill the Assembly seat of Joseph Cryan, who resigned in 2015 to become the Union County Sheriff.[11] He has since won two additional two-year terms in the Assembly, serving with Democratic running mate Annette Quijano.[12]

Committees

  • Homeland Security and State Preparedness[13]
  • Health and Senior Services[14]

2021 New Jersey State Senate election

Holley announced in January 2021 that he would challenge Joseph Cryan in the June 8, 2021 primary for New Jersey State Senate.[15] He lost the primary to Cryan.[16]

Vaccine choice and parental rights

In early 2020, Holley opposed New Jersey Assembly Bill A3818, which sought to eliminate religious exemptions from childhood vaccination requirements. Holley, who has stated that he personally supports vaccines as medicine, framed his opposition as a defense of parental rights and religious freedom, writing: "I do not believe that elected officials should be overreaching into the households of parents who are entitled to make informed medical decisions for their children."[17] He reported receiving more than 3,000 constituent emails opposing the bill and argued the legislature had not allowed sufficient public debate.[18]

Holley characterized a last-minute compromise amendment — which would have permitted private but not public schools to accept unvaccinated children — as an unconstitutional "segregation amendment" favoring wealthier families. He subsequently co-sponsored Senate bills S-1734 (requiring 48-hour advance disclosure of vaccine ingredients) and S-1791 (making the state liable for injuries from mandated vaccines), and traveled to Connecticut to speak alongside attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in opposition to similar legislation there.[19] Holley also maintains an active social media presence on the issue.[20][21]

Public Record

In August 2009, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office charged Holley by accusation with illegally filling out portions of absentee ballots belonging to at least 20 voters during the 2006 Democratic primary for Borough Council — a third-degree crime carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.[22][23] The charges were resolved through a pre-trial intervention program, over the objections of the attorney general's office.[24][25] In 2016, his successor as Roselle Mayor, Christine Dansereau, accused him of harassment and intimidation in a police report;[26] Dansereau later resigned for health reasons in June 2020.[27]

Electoral history

New Jersey Senate

New Jersey primary election, 2021[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Joseph Cryan (incumbent) 7,804 62.5%
Democratic Jamel Holley 4,176 33.5%
Democratic Jason F. Krychiw 502 4.0%
Total votes 12,482 100.0%

New Jersey Assembly

New Jersey general election, 2019[29]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Annette Quijano (Incumbent) 13,173 40.75 Decrease 4.65
Democratic Jamel Holley (Incumbent) 12,437 38.48 Decrease 6.12
Republican Charles Donnelly 3,496 10.82 Decrease 1.7
Republican Ashraf Hanna 3,218 9.96 Decrease 1.7
Total votes 53,372 100.0
New Jersey general election, 2017[30]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Annette Quijano (Incumbent) 24,221 45.4 Increase 6.0
Democratic Jamel Holley (Incumbent) 23,790 44.6 Increase 6.8
Republican Joseph G. Aubourg 5,361 10.0 Decrease 1.7
Total votes 53,372 100.0
New Jersey general election, 2015[31]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Annette Quijano (Incumbent) 12,061 39.4 Increase 3.9
Democratic Jamel Holley (Incumbent) 11,568 37.8 Increase 1.5
Republican Stephen E. Kozlovich 3,593 11.7 Decrease 2.8
Republican Roger Stryeski 3,398 11.1 Decrease 2.6
Total votes 30,620 100.0

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Roselle Mayor Jamel Holley to be Inaugurated January 6th". LocalTalkNews.com.
  2. 1 2 3 "Jamel Holley" – via LinkedIn.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Elected Officials - Mayor Jamel Holley". Borough of Roselle, NJ. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Jamel C. Holley (D)". www.njleg.state.nj.us. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  5. ↑ "STRAIGHT BUT NOT NARROW, Volume 2 - InsiderNJ". Insider NJ. 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  6. ↑ "31 year old Jamel Holley elected Mayor of Roselle". Blue Jersey.
  7. ↑ "Holley backing Lesniak in LD20". PolitickerNJ.
  8. ↑ Khavkine, Richard (24 July 2013). "Union County politicians endorse Newark Mayor Booker in Senate race". NJ.com. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  9. ↑ "Roselle Calls On White House, Justice Department To Find Justice For Trayvon Martin". NJToday.net. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Yee, Vivian (2013-10-21). "At 12:01, Same-Sex Couples in New Jersey Say 'I Do'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  11. ↑ Merrill, Everett (January 22, 2015). "Jamel Holley replaces Joe Cryan in the Assembly". MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  12. ↑ Friedman, Matt (June 2, 2015). "Incumbents rule the day in N.J. Assembly primaries". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved September 12, 2015. Even in Union County's 20th District — the most hotly contested — incumbent Democratic Assembly members Jamel Holley and Annette Quijano easily prevailed over two sets of challengers: Tony Monteiro and Giuliano Farina; and Jorge Batista and Vivian Bell.
  13. ↑ "Jamel Holley". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  14. ↑ Wildstein, David (2018-07-09). "New committee assignment for Holley". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  15. ↑ "Holley to Challenge Cryan in LD20 Democratic Primary". Insider NJ. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  16. ↑ "Candidates for State Senate - For primary election 06/08/2021 Election" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-07-18.
  17. ↑ Holley, Jamel (2020-02-24). "Opinion: I Heard Cries. Then, I Saw The Faces… My Vaccine Story". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  18. ↑ Biryukov, Nikita (2020-01-11). "Holley whipping against vaccine bill". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  19. ↑ NJ, Insider (2020-01-28). "King Meets with Kennedy; while Kennedy Meets with Holley". Insider NJ. Archived from the original on 2026-03-09. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  20. ↑ "N.J. Democrats' chief anti-vaxxer". POLITICO. 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  21. ↑ Editor-In-Chief, Christine Stuart, Former (2020-02-05). "Hundreds Turn Out Against Repeal of Religious Exemption". CT News Junkie. Retrieved 2026-06-27. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ "State of New Jersey". www.nj.gov. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  23. ↑ Pizarro, Max (2009-08-27). "State AG's Office charges Holley by accusation with violating absentee voting law". Observer. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  24. ↑ Caroom, Eliot (2009-10-09). "Roselle councilman offered pre-trial intervention in ballot-tampering case". nj. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  25. ↑ Pizarro, Max (2009-10-18). "Lesniak and Cryan pummel Milgram over Holley case". Observer. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  26. ↑ Haydon, Tom (2016-09-26). "Mayor files police report accusing assemblyman of harassment, intimidation". nj. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  27. ↑ Wildstein, David (2020-06-23). "Roselle mayor will resign for health reasons". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  28. ↑ "June 8, 2021 Primary Election Results". Union County Votes. County of Union. June 8, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  29. ↑ "N.J. Election 2019: Results from state Assembly races and statewide ballot question". 6 November 2019.
  30. ↑ "2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  31. ↑ "2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
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