James K. "Jay" Webber[1] (born February 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and Republican politician, who has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since January 8, 2008, where he represents the 26th legislative district. Webber has served in the Assembly as the Minority Appropriations Officer since 2018.[2]
At age 30 in 2003, Webber ran in the Republican primary against incumbentstate senatorRobert Martin by running to the right of the senator.[6] Martin defeated Webber by approximately 1,900 votes, 15 percentage points from the total vote.[8]
New Jersey Assembly
In 2007, following Martin's retirement from the Senate and incumbent Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio deciding to run for Martin's seat, Webber ran in the Republican primary for Pennacchio's Assembly seat. Incumbent Alex DeCroce took the most votes in the June primary (9,833 votes or 41.1%) while Webber advanced to the November general election by coming in second (7,679 votes, 32.2%) defeating Kinnelon councilman Larry Casha (6,369 votes, 26.7%).[9][10] Webber was elected in the general election and has subsequently been re-elected every two years since then.
On June 11, 2009, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie announced his selection of Webber to succeed Tom Wilson as chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee.[13] State Committee members unanimously supported the selection of Webber in a vote on June 17, 2009.[14] Webber announced that he would be leaving the Chairman's post in January 2011, and was succeeded by Sam Raia.[15]
2018 U.S. House campaign
On February 3, 2018, Webber announced he would officially run for the U.S. House seat representing New Jersey's 11th congressional district, after incumbent Rodney Frelinghuysen announced on January 29 that he would not seek reelection. Webber received the Republican Party nomination in the June 6 primary election, defeating Anthony Ghee and Peter DeNeufville.[16] He was defeated by Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill in the November general election. Sherrill won 56.2% of the vote to Webber's 42.7%, defeating him by 13.5%, a 33 percentage-point shift in the vote share towards the Democrat compared to the last election. It was the largest partisan swing of any district in the 2018 House Elections.[17]
Personal life
He is married to Johanna, with whom he has eight children. He is a resident of Morris Plains. He owns a law firm based in Whippany.
Electoral history
General Assembly
26th Legislative District General Election, 2023[18]
^Dinges, Tomás. "N.J. Republican Party elects new state chairman", The Star-Ledger, January 11, 2011. Accessed September 26, 2015. "Raia was named the new head of the New Jersey Republican State Committee last Thursday. That news came shortly after former chair Assemblyman Jay Webber, of Morris Plains, announced he would step down."
