# Annette Quijano

Annette M. Quijano (/kiˈhɑːnoʊ/, born July 4, 1962) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 20th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since September 25, 2008, having been selected by Union County Democrats to succeed Neil M. Cohen, who resigned on July 28, 2008, amid allegations of child pornography on an official computer.

## Early life

Quijano is a native of New Jersey, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents. She is a resident of Elizabeth.
Quijano graduated from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Management and earned her Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1991. She served clerkships at New Jersey Superior Court in Newark, and in Trenton at both the Office of the Governor's Counsel and the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate in Trenton. She has bar admissions in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She is currently a municipal prosecutor for the City of Elizabeth. She has worked as a Compliance Manager for Prudential/ Aetna U.S. Healthcare and as an attorney in civil practice. She served as Chief of Staff to State Senator Raymond Lesniak from 1992 to 1994, Assistant Counsel to Union County, Clerk to the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders and as the Assistant Counsel to Governors Jim McGreevey, Richard Codey and Jon Corzine. Quijano has served on the United Way Hispanic Advisory Council of Union County, the Governor's Working Group for Hispanic Affairs, a Legal Services committee in Elizabeth, and as a Commissioner for New Jersey's Congressional Redistricting efforts. She is the recipient of the Excellence in State Government Leadership and the Women of Excellence in Government awards and mentors young adults to consider law and graduate school in her free time.

## New Jersey Assembly

Quijano is the first woman and first minority to represent the 20th District. Quijano was selected by a convention of Union County Democrats over Patricia Perkins-Auguste by a vote of 87–82 to replace the vacant seat of Neil Cohen who resigned. Cohen resigned after staffers for then Assemblyman Joseph Cryan and then Senator Raymond Lesniak found child pornography on Cohen's computer. She was sworn in on September 25, 2008. She has been serving as General Assembly Deputy Majority Leader and Chairwoman of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee. This is in addition to serving as a member of the Labor Committee. In June 2017, Quijano introduced a bill to designate Streptomyces griseus as New Jersey's State Microbe, to be added to the state's other state symbols. S. griseus was chosen for this honor because it is a New Jersey native that made unique contributions to healthcare and scientific research worldwide. A strain of S. griseus that produced the antibiotic streptomycin was discovered in New Jersey in 1916 and developed into an antibiotic by a Rutgers University team by Albert Schatz and Selman Waksman in 1943. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate in May 2017 by Samuel D. Thompson.
In January 2025, Quijano was elected as speaker pro tempore, replacing Benjie Wimberly who was appointed to the State Senate.

### Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:
* Consumer Affairs (as vice-chair)
* Housing
* Labor

### District 20

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 20th District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:
* Senator Joseph Cryan (D)
* Assemblyman Reginald Atkins (D)
* Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D)

## Electoral history
### New Jersey Assembly

20th Legislative District General Election, 2023 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (incumbent) | 12,280 | 42.7 |
| | Democratic | Reginald Atkins (incumbent) | 12,104 | 42.1 |
| | Republican | Ramon Hernandez | 4,380 | 15.2 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 28,764 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
20th legislative district general election, 2021 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (incumbent) | 26,276 | 50.77% |
| | Democratic | Reginald Atkins | 25,477 | 49.23% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 51,753 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
New Jersey general election, 2019 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 13,173 | 40.75 | 4.65 |
| | Democratic | Jamel Holley (Incumbent) | 12,437 | 38.48 | 6.12 |
| | Republican | Charles Donnelly | 3,496 | 10.82 | 0.82 |
| | Republican | Ashraf Hanna | 3,218 | 9.96 | 9.96 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | '53,372' | '100.0' | |
New Jersey general election, 2017 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 24,221 | 45.4 | 6.0 |
| | Democratic | Jamel Holley (Incumbent) | 23,790 | 44.6 | 6.8 |
| | Republican | Joseph G. Aubourg | 5,361 | 10.0 | 1.7 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | '53,372' | '100.0' | |
New Jersey general election, 2015 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 12,061 | 39.4 | 3.9 |
| | Democratic | Jamel Holley (Incumbent) | 11,568 | 37.8 | 1.5 |
| | Republican | Stephen E. Kozlovich | 3,593 | 11.7 | 2.8 |
| | Republican | Roger Stryeski | 3,398 | 11.1 | 2.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 30,620 | 100.0 | |
New Jersey general election, 2013 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Joseph Cryan (Incumbent) | 19,268 | 36.3 | 6.1 |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 18,839 | 35.5 | 7.2 |
| | Republican | Charles Donnelly | 7,719 | 14.5 | 0.1 |
| | Republican | Christopher Hackett | 7,269 | 13.7 | N/A |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | '53,095' | '100.0' | |
New Jersey general election, 2011 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 12,116 | 42.7 |
| | Democratic | Joseph Cryan (Incumbent) | 12,104 | 42.7 |
| | Republican | John F. Donoso | 4,128 | 14.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 28,348 | 100.0 |
New Jersey general election, 2009 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Joseph Cryan (Incumbent) | 20,607 | 50.7 | 15.5 |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 20,054 | 49.3 | 12.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | '40,661' | '100.0' | |
Special election, November 4, 2008 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Annette Quijano (Incumbent) | 35,746 | 71.2 |
| | Republican | Linda Gaglione | 14,458 | 28.8 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 50,204 | 100.0 |