Michael J . Doherty Michael J . Doherty ( born May 24 , 1963 ) is an American Republican Party politician who serves in the New Jersey Senate representing the 23rd Legislative District . He was sworn into the State Senate on November 23 , 2009 , having won the seat held by Marcia A . Karrow , who had earlier been selected by a party convention to succeed Leonard Lance after his election to the United States House of Representatives . Doherty had served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2009 . Biography . Doherty was born in Point Pleasant , New Jersey and resides in Washington Township , Warren County , New Jersey . Doherty grew up in Glen Ridge , New Jersey and graduated from Glen Ridge High School in 1981 . In 1985 , Doherty graduated with a B . S . from the United States Military Academy at West Point , and was commissioned as an officer in the Field Artillery . Doherty served on active duty in the United States Army from 1985 – 1989 and in the United States Army Reserve from 1989 – 1993 , achieving the rank of Captain . He is a graduate of the United States Army Airborne School , the U . S . Army Jungle School and the Defense Language Institute ( German ) . In the Army , he was stationed in Germany and served as a nuclear operations officer . His unit ' s mission was to utilize nuclear armed missiles to defend Western Europe and NATO forces from possible Soviet aggression . He was granted a Top Secret clearance to perform his nuclear duties . Doherty and his wife , Linda , have three sons , who have served or are serving on active duty in different branches of the armed forces : Matthew , U . S . Army ; Ryan , U . S . Marine Corps ; and Jared , U . S . Air Force . In 1993 , he was awarded a J . D . from the Seton Hall University School of Law . Doherty is a patent attorney , specializing in semiconductor and medical device technology . Elected office . Board of Chosen Freeholders : Doherty served for a period on the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders . In 2000 , Doherty defeated the incumbent Freeholder Director , a Democrat , to capture control of the Freeholder Board for the Republican Party . In 2001 , he served as Deputy Director of the Freeholder Board . He was elected to serve as the Director of the Freeholder Board in both 2002 and 2003 . During his three years on the Freeholder Board , Doherty cut the county tax rate by 21 % . Doherty also began a program to reduce the county debt so that today Warren County has the lowest debt of any county in the state . He also prevailed in a showdown with a Superior Court judge who threatened to jail Doherty unless he issued $ 5 million in bonds to fund an expansion of the local county college . The showdown was eventually decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court , which sided with Doherty and held that the Freeholder Board was correct to ignore the judge ' s order . General Assembly : Doherty was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 2001 , and was re - elected in 2003 , 2005 and 2007 . He served in the Assembly on the Appropriations Committee and the Labor Committee . Early in his Assembly career , he served on the Agriculture Committee , the Housing and the Local Government Committee , and the State House Commission . State Senate : In November 2008 , Doherty announced his intention to run for the State Senate seat vacated by Leonard Lance , who was elected to represent the 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives . Doherty ' s opponent in the race was Assemblywoman Marcia A . Karrow . Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt originally planned to run for the vacancy as well , but he dropped out to run for one of the Assembly vacancies opened up by Karrow or Doherty . On January 24 , 2009 , a special election was held by a convention of Republican committee members from Hunterdon and Warren counties . Karrow defeated Doherty in the special election by a margin of 195 votes to 143 . Doherty announced that he would run against Karrow a second time in the June 2009 primary , when she would be running as the incumbent . Doherty gave up his Assembly seat by opposing Karrow in the primary . On June 2 , 2009 , Doherty defeated Karrow in the Republican Senate primary by a margin of 52 % - 48 % . He defeated the Democratic candidate Harvey Baron in a special election on November 3 , 2009 , to fill the remaining two years of the Senate term , garnering 71 % of the vote . He was first sworn into his Senate seat on November 23 , 2009 . In the Senate , Doherty currently serves on the Education Committee and the Judiciary Committee . Doherty was re - elected to the Senate in November 2011 . District 23 . Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly . The other representatives from the 23rd District for the 2012 – 2013 Legislative Session are : Endorsements and recognitions . Doherty has been endorsed repeatedly by pro - business groups such as the New Jersey Business and Industry Association , the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey , the New Jersey Restaurant Association and the National Federation of Independent Business ( awarded a perfect 100 % voting record by the NFIB ) . His voting record is ranked A + by the National Rifle Association and has been repeatedly endorsed by New Jersey Right to Life . Doherty is an outspoken critic of the court system , and has introduced numerous pieces of legislation challenging court decisions and procedures . He was designated as " Legislator of the Year " in 2007 by the N . J . Family Policy Council for his continued efforts to support conservative legislation . Doherty is a self - described global warming skeptic . 2012 U . S . Senate election . There has been speculation that Doherty will run against incumbent Bob Menendez for United States Senator . Assemblyman John DiMaio from the same legislative district as Doherty has said he would endorse Doherty if he ran . In February 2012 , Doherty announced his support for Joseph M . Kyrillos for the Republican nomination for the 2012 U . S . Senate race . Endorsements of Ron Paul . On November 10 , 2007 , Doherty became the first elected official from New Jersey to publicly endorse Ron Paul for President of the United States . In 2011 , Doherty endorsed Paul for U . S . President in the 2012 election .