Doug Steinhardt

Douglas J. "Doug" Steinhardt (born November 4, 1968) is an American attorney and politician from New Jersey. On November 21, 2017, he was elected as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee.

Early life and career

Steinhardt was born in Belvidere, New Jersey and received his undergraduate degree in history from the Gettysburg College. He was also a four-year member of the Gettysburg NCAA Division III football team. After completing his undergraduate studies he enrolled in Widener University School of Law where he earned his J.D. During law school he served as the associate editor of the Law Review.^[1]

After law school Steinhardt returned to New Jersey to begin his law career in his fathers law office in Belvidere, New Jersey. In 2005 he helped form the Law Firm of Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader, LLC, by becoming the third named partner in the law firm that is headed by former New Jersey Governor James Florio.^[2]

In 2015, Steinhardt was inducted into the Warren County (NJ) Hall of Fame, joining his mother Therese, a nurse and nurse educator, who was inducted in 2013. ^[3]

Municipal politics

In his first run for public office, Steinhardt was elected Mayor of Lopatcong in 1999, beating Democratic incumbent William Baker by twelve votes.^[4][5] He ran on controlling development, and challenged Baker to debates, which Baker declined to participate in.^[6] In his reelection campaign in 2002, he again defeated Baker, this time with 80% of the vote.^[7][8]. He ran and won with no opposition for the next three elections.^[9][10][11] He declined to run for a sixth term in 2014 and was succeeded by Tom McKay.^[12]

Steinhardt was elected Chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee on January 31, 2004 to fill the unexpired term of the outgoing chair who resigned to focus on private sector opportunities. He ran on the idea of promoting inclusion among Republican committee members, some of whom often complained about a lack of communications within the county committee. He defeated his opponent by a 2-1 margin among elected members of the committee^[13] According to the Express Times his leadership style and ability to bring various factions of the party together made it so that he ran unopposed for a full term six months later.^[14]

After his first election as the county committee chair, Steinhardt ran unopposed and won every two years, except for 2012. In that year, Steinhardt faced opposition because he had lost his Lopatcong committee seat, though only by five votes. Steinhardt defeated a committeeperson from Greenwich Township who challenged his position in a 92-35 vote.^[15]

State chairman

He was initially nominated by Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and Republican Primary nominee to be the Chairman of the New Jersey State Republican Committee in June 2017^[16] but a last minute appointment by the then Governor of his wife to a position with the parole board caused concern for the Lt. Governor.^[17] Steinhardt withdrew his candidacy and was replaced by Michael B. Lavery.^[18]. Six months later in November 2017, after the Democratic victory in the ensuing gubernatorial election, Lavery resigned and Steinhardt was named Chairman.^[19]

Charitable and non-profit causes

As a youth, Steinhardt earned the Eagle Scout award. He was on the Board of Directors of the Central New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts of America as of 2011.^[20] In January 2017 Steinhardt co-founded and co-chairs the Warren County Addiction Awareness Task Force to address the spiraling heroin and opioid epidemics.^[21]

References