Joe Kyrillos

Joseph M. Kyrillos, Jr. (born April 12, 1960) is an American Republican Party politician, who has served in the New Jersey State Senate since 1992, where he represents the 13th Legislative District. Before entering the Senate, Kyrillos served in the General Assembly, from 1988 to 1992.

From 2001 to 2004, Senator Kyrillos served as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee and a member of the Republican National Committee, where he worked to elect Republicans who shared his vision. In that role, he facilitated the logistics and implementation of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and read the delegate count for President George W. Bush’s nomination for re-election on the convention floor. Joe was the New Jersey Chairman of Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2008, and in 2009, he served as the Chairman of Governor Christie's successful campaign and as a member of the transition team. He served as a close advisor to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

According to the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, Senator Kyrillos is the second youngest person elected to the senate since the 1947 Constitutional Convention and the tenth youngest since 1844. He served as only the 29th Republican state chairman in the recorded history of the party since 1880 and one of only four to serve simultaneously in the legislature. When he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012 against Democratic incumbent U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, he joined a small group of 135 individuals who, since the founding of New Jersey, earned the privilege to have been nominated for Governor or U.S. Senator by the major political parties.

Joseph M. Kyrillos, Jr. was born April 12, 1960, in Kearny, New Jersey, the son of a pediatrician. Joe’s father and his mother’s parent’s immigrated to the United States. His grandfather worked as a tool and die maker at Thomas Edison’s factory in West Orange. His father was a local doctor and his mother raised four children and graduated from college at age 50.

Kyrillos graduated from Rumson Country Day School and the Lawrenceville School. He received a B.A. degree from Hobart College in Political Science and was awarded an M.S. from Boston University in Communications.

After graduating from college, Kyrillos worked for Vice President George Bush during the 1984 Reagan-Bush campaign. Following the campaign, he served as Special Assistant to Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel from 1985 to 1987.

In addition to his Senate duties, Joe is currently affiliated with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, a commercial real estate services firm, and Newport Capital, Red Bank, an investment advisory firm.

Visible and accessible in his district and around the State, Kyrillos has appeared on television on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, New York network affiliates, and local New Jersey outlets.

He has served on many local and statewide non-profit boards as well as on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures and as a trustee of the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

Elections

Kyrillos was first elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1987, together with his incumbent running mate JoAnn H. Smith, with both candidates receiving more than $25,000 each in campaign funding from the $1.1 million spent by the New Jersey Republican State Committee to support candidates statewide. In 1989, he won re-election to a second term. After spending two terms in the Assembly, he retired to run for the seat in the New Jersey Senate in 1991.

Tenure

Kyrillos strongly opposed Democratic Governor Jim Florio's tax increases, citing his opposition to "the Florio tax plan" repeatedly in his campaign advertising. He also opposed the Abbott districts.

Committee assignments

• Assembly Education Committee

Elections

In 1991, Kyrillos decided to run for the 13th District seat in the New Jersey Senate. He defeated incumbent appointed Senator James T. Phillips 68%-32%. In 1993, after redistricting, he won re-election to a second term with 64% of the vote. In 1997, he won re-election to a third term with 63% of the vote.

After redistricting, the 13th district became more competitive. In 2001, he won re-election to a fourth term (two-year term) with 64% of the vote. He won re-election to a fifth term in 2003 against former State Assemblyman Bill Flynn 54%-41%. In 2007, he won re-election to a sixth term with 61% of the vote. In 2011, he won re-election to a seventh term, defeating Hazlet Mayor Chris Cullen, 60%-37%.

Tenure and Legislative Accomplishments

When Republicans held the legislative majority in the Statehouse, Senator Kyrillos served as Majority Conference Leader and chaired standing committees on economic development and coastal resources.

A ranking member of the Economic Growth, Judiciary and Legislative Oversight committees, he has sponsored numerous economic incentives and tax reforms to allow job creators to spend money on hiring and investment, instead of excessive government. He was the original sponsor of the state's landmark Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP), which has resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousands of New Jersey jobs. Senator Kyrillos was the prime co-sponsor of the “Grow New Jersey” bill, which is the state’s current business incentive program.

As a lifelong Monmouth County resident, Senator Kyrillos has worked tirelessly to protect New Jersey’s coastline and help the shore region rebuild in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Senator Kyrillos helped establish the state’s Shore Protection Fund in 1993, which provided the first stable source of funding for protecting New Jersey’s beaches. He also sponsored legislation to keep our oceans clean and close the CAFRA loophole to protect the shoreline from overdevelopment and decay. He led the early fight for green acres and open space efforts by sponsoring Green Acre bond issues and sponsored the original Environmental Infrastructure Trust.

Senator Kyrillos, an advocate for improving public education, was the prime sponsor of the School Report Card legislation to hold public schools and teachers accountable. He also sponsored the current teacher tenure reform bill and has advocated for reforms to the state’s inequitable school funding formula.

Working with legislators on both sides of the aisle, Senator Kyrillos championed several bi-partisan reform measures to lower property taxes and fix systemic problems with the state budget. Senator Kyrillos was a prime sponsor of the two-percent cap on property taxes that is helping to control excessive local spending. He worked with the Governor and Legislative Leaders to begin to fix the state’s broken pension system with reforms saving taxpayers more than $120 billion over the next 30 years.

Along the way, he sponsored initiatives that created the NJ Cultural Trust, the NJ BEST vehicle for higher education savings, and the bill that created today’s NJTV.

On October 25, 2016, Kyrillos told Observer.com that he will not seek a re-election for the 2017 State Senate elections.

Committee assignments

• Senate Natural Resources and Tourism Committee (Chairman)
• Senate Economic Growth Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Oversight Committee

• Senate Majority Conference Leader
• New Jersey Republican State Committee (Chairman)

District 13

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 13th District for the 2014–2015 Legislative Session are:

• Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, and
• Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon

1992 congressional election

In 1992, Kyrillos ran for the United States House of Representatives but was defeated by incumbent Democrat Frank Pallone in a competitive race, falling short by about 10 points.

2001-2004 Chairman, New Jersey Republican State Committee

From 2001 to 2004, Kyrillos served as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee and a member of the Republican National Committee, where he worked to elect Republicans who shared his vision. In that role, he facilitated the logistics and implementation of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and read the delegate count for President George W. Bush’s nomination for re-election on the convention floor.

2008 Romney presidential campaign

Kyrillos was the New Jersey Chairman of Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign.

2009 Christie gubernatorial campaign

In 2009, Kyrillos served as chairman of Chris Christie's successful gubernatorial campaign and was a member of the Governor's Transition Committee, serving as the liaison to all transition sub-committees.

2012 U.S. Senate election

In June 2011, Kyrillos filed an exploratory committee for a potential race in either 2012 or 2014.

On January 19, 2012, Kyrillos officially decided to run for the U.S. Senate, citing unemployment, housing prices and the national debt as issues he would tackle in the Senate. Kyrillos won the Republican nomination on June 5, 2012. He opposed Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez in the November 6th general election, in which he was defeated 58.4% to 39.9%.

Memberships

Kyrillos has served on the boards of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, National Conference of State Legislatures Foundation, Bayshore Senior Day Center, Count Basie Theatre, Garden State Arts Center Foundation, Monmouth County Historical Association, New Jersey Historical Society, Prevention First, Rainbow Foundation, and the Two River Theatre Company.

Kyrillos is married to Susan Doctorian Kyrillos and has two children, Max and Georgia.