Sandra Bolden Cunningham

Sandra Bolden Cunningham (September 4, 1950) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has been serving in the New Jersey State Senate since 2007, where she represents the 31st Legislative District. She was sworn into office on November 8, 2007. [Baldwin, Tom. [http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071109/NEWS01/711090393/1006/NEWS01 "2 new lawmakers take oath, become Assembly members"] , "Courier-Post", November 9, 2007. Accessed November 20, 2007. "One new state senator was sworn in for the 31st District in Hudson County, Sandra Bolden Cunningham, who will finish the the unexpired term of former Sen. Joseph Doria Jr. She holds the Senate seat once held by her late husband, Glenn, who died in office in 2004."] She is the widow of former Jersey City, New Jersey Mayor Glenn Cunningham, who died in 2004.

In the Senate, she has been assigned to serve as Vice Chairwoman of the Economic Growth Committee and as a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Labor Committee. [http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/BIO.asp?Leg=290 Senator Cunningham's legislative webpage] , New Jersey Legislature. Accessed February 6, 2008.]

Cunningham received a B.A. from Bloomfield College with a major in Liberal Arts.

Career

Following her husband's sudden death, she tried to win a special election for his seat in the State Senate and was reported to be considering a run for Mayor of Jersey City in a special election. She became President of the Sandra and Glenn Cunningham Foundation and has supported causes in Jersey City through the foundation. In 2006 signs in Jersey City touted her as a candidate for the U.S. Senate vs. Sen. Robert Menendez and State Sen. Tom Kean Jr.. Menendez and her late husband were bitter political rivals. She did not seek the U.S. Senate seat and announced her candidacy for the State Senate in the Democratic Primary against Sen. Joseph Doria in 2007. This is the Senate seat her husband held prior to his death.

Doria, the mayor of Bayonne, dropped out of the race in March 2007. Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who first won his seat on a ticket with Mayor Cunningham, challenged Mrs. Cunningham in the Democratic primary for the Senate. In her Senate race, Senator Cunningham received the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who had previously opposed her and her late husband. One of Mrs. Cunningham's running mates for the Assembly was former State Sen. L. Harvey Smith, who had been defeated by her late husband in a bitter 2003 Senate primary. Senator Cunningham defeated Assemblyman Manzo in the June primary and with no Republican opponent was considered a senator-elect.

Following Doria's October 2007 resignation to become Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Mrs. Cunningham was elected on October 23, 2007 by a special election convention to serve the remainder of Doria's term, which will expire in January 2008, when Mrs. Cunningham will start a four-year term. Senator Cunningham was sworn into the State Senate on November 8, 2007.

District 31

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 31st District for the 2008-2009 Legislative Session are:
*Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, and
*Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith

References

External links

* [http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/BIO.asp?Leg=290 Senator Cunningham's legislative webpage] , New Jersey Legislature
*"New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms"
** [http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ethics/FinancialDisclosure/CunninghamS2007.pdf 2007] [http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ethics/FinancialDisclosure/CunninghamS2006.pdf 2006]
* [http://www.cunninghamforsenate.com/ Senate campaign website]