When New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy appointed his new lieutenant governor, Tahesha Way, he threaded a needle — avoiding causing problems for Democratic legislators who are up for election and satisfying competing demands by groups seeking broader representation.
“It says that he remains committed to diversity, and to have a cabinet that looks like New Jersey,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
Way, 51, succeeds Sheila Oliver, who died Aug. 1 of an undisclosed illness. Both women are Black and have been trailblazers. Oliver made history as the first Black woman to lead New Jersey’s Assembly, and only the second to lead a legislative body in any state. She was also the first Black woman to win statewide office in New Jersey.
Way is the New Jersey Secretary of State, and has led that department for the entirety of Murphy’s term. In that role, she led the election department through the pandemic, instituting a nearly all-mail voting system. She also ran the state’s participation in the 2020 Census.
Rasmussen said Murphy likely didn’t want to pick anyone in the Legislature, because they are all running in the November election and would need to be replaced on the ballot. Nor would Murphy want to pick one of the likely candidates for governor in 2025, he said.
“He did not want to pick sides in any election. And so they’re picking somebody who was already in his cabinet,” Rasmussen said. Every lieutenant governor in New Jersey also runs a department, so they can serve in any cabinet position other than attorney general. “So to really look at and drill down on the people who were already running departments, I think, was a natural choice.”
Before becoming secretary of state in 2018, Way was an administrative law judge and had been a member of the Passaic County Board of Commissioners and the New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council.
Way is a graduate of Brown University, has…
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