James Florio

In both 1969 and 1971, Florio was elected to represent the 3rd Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly, covering portions of Camden County, each time with Democratic running mate John J. Horn, whom Florio had served as a legislative aide while he was still in law school.[12][13] He was elected in 1973, together with Ernest F. Schuck, to represent the 5th Legislative District in the General Assembly, which covered portions of Camden County and Gloucester County.[14] In 1975, Florio resigned after being elected to the U.S House of Representatives.[15]

In November 1974, Florio was elected to the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey's 1st congressional district, defeating incumbent John E. Hunt.[16] He served in the House from January 3, 1975, until January 16, 1990, when he resigned to serve as governor of New Jersey.[17]

In Congress, Florio authored the Superfund legislation to clean up the most polluted sites in the country in 1980.[18] He was the author of the Railroad Deregulation Law which saved the nation's freight railroads, including Conrail.[19] He was also cosponsor of the Exon-Florio Amendment, which created the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and effectively removed Congress from the approval process on foreign takeovers of U.S. industrial concerns.[20] This legislation was a factor in the Dubai Ports World controversy in 2006.[21]

Governor Florio in 1993

While in Congress, Florio ran for Governor of New Jersey in 1977,[22] 1981,[23] and 1989. Florio was defeated by incumbent Democrat Brendan Byrne in 1977. In 1981, he won the Democratic nomination, but then lost a controversial general election to Thomas Kean. The involvement of the Republican National Committee in the 1981 general election received significant subsequent attention, with the RNC accused of having created a Ballot Security Task Force made up of off-duty police officers to engage in voter suppression.[24][25][26] The 1981 gubernatorial general election was the closest in New Jersey history, and the outcome of the election was not decided with certainty until several weeks after Election Day.[23]

In the 1989 New Jersey gubernatorial election, Florio won both the nomination and the general election.[27] During his campaign, Florio said: "You can write this statement down: 'Florio feels there is no need for new taxes'".[28] Florio defeated Republican Jim Courter with 61% of the vote,[29] becoming the first American of Italian descent to become Governor of New Jersey.[30]

Florio took office during the late 1980s recession and thus faced a budget deficit. Also, Florio wished to increase education aid to New Jersey's low-wealth school districts. Faced with a projected 1991 deficit of $3 billion, Florio asked for a $2.8 billion tax increase, most in the way of a sales tax increase and an increase in the state excise taxes on various goods.[31] Florio signed the tax package into law in June 1990. It was the largest state tax increase in the history of the United States.[32] The money generated balanced the budget, increased property tax relief programs, and increased education spending in the Abbott districts. Florio also eliminated 1,500 government jobs and cut perks for state officials.[33]

Florio redistributed hundreds of millions of dollars of school aid away from suburban districts to urban districts (see the Abbott case) and rural districts. Under Florio's plan, known as the Quality Education Act, 151 suburban districts would lose almost all of their education funding and have to assume pension costs, Social Security payments, and retiree health costs; another 71 districts would have large reductions in aid and have to assume smaller portions of retiree benefits; and about 350 districts would see increases in aid. The aid cuts fell the most heavily in North Jersey.[34]

A grassroots taxpayer revolt sprouted in 1990, spearheaded by a citizens' group named "Hands Across New Jersey" founded by John Budzash, a postal worker from Howell Township. Budzash was a frequent guest on radio and television shows throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania speaking out against the new taxes.[35] Florio was a regular topic on active anti-tax broadcasting from talk radio stations New Jersey 101.5 to Curtis Sliwa's AM radio talk show and Bob Grant's AM radio talk show, both based in New York City. Sliwa, Grant, and John and Ken from New Jersey 101.5, along with Alan Keyes (who in later years was a presidential candidate in the Republican primary), were guest speakers at two rallies held by Hands Across New Jersey protesting both George H. W. Bush and Florio's tax increases.[36] Bumper stickers with "Impeach Florio" were seen around the state.[37]

Prior to the 1991 New Jersey elections, Democrats held majorities in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the New Jersey State Senate. But voter anger was so great that after the 1991 election, Republicans were to win veto-proof majorities in both houses. An example of Republican strength at this time was their promise to roll back the sales tax, which was raised by one percentage point during the first two years of the Florio administration. The rollback was passed in both houses, only to be vetoed by Florio.[38] Republicans then overrode Florio's veto and the rollback was passed.[39]

In order to pay for the increased aid in rural and urban districts and maintain suburban school aid, Florio and the legislature passed the "Pension Reevaluation Act". The Pension Reevaluation Act changed the actuarial calculations used to calculate the State's pension contributions; instead of using the book value of pension assets (a conservative approach), the state would use a market-related value. The Act also increased the assumed rate of return for investments from 7 percent to 8.75 percent. The Pension Reevaluation Act reduced New Jersey's pension contributions by $1.5 billion in 1992.[40]

Florio also signed a 20% reduction of auto insurance premiums.[41] In May 1990, Florio enacted the stiffest laws in the U.S. on owning or selling semi-automatic firearms; in 1993, he vetoed a repeal bill passed by the Republican-led legislature. The National Rifle Association lobbied hard to override the governor's veto, and the Assembly voted to override it. However, the Senate voted unanimously to uphold Florio's veto. According to Time, New Jerseyans had swamped lawmakers' offices with calls supporting the ban after Florio stumped the state, appealing to voters to voice their feelings" about semi-automatic firearms.[42]

In 1991, the Democrats lost their majority in both chambers of the state legislature, for the first time in 20 years (Republicans controlled the state assembly after the 1985 and 1987 elections). The governor's approval ratings were as low as 18% but stabilized to roughly 50% by 1993. He made an effort for conservative support by putting in place tighter restrictions on welfare payments to mothers and enjoyed the strong support of President Bill Clinton. Clinton advisers James Carville and Paul Begala worked on his campaign. Due in large part to the tax hikes, Florio lost his bid for re-election to Republican Somerset County freeholder Christine Todd Whitman and became the first Democratic Governor since the adoption of the state's current constitution in 1947 to lose a re-election vote. (Republican William T. Cahill, elected in 1969, became the first Governor to lose reelection when he was defeated in the Republican primary in 1973.[43]) Whitman prevailed by a narrow margin of 26,093 votes out of 2,505,964 votes cast.[44] As of 2022, Florio was the last politician from South Jersey to win statewide office.[45]

In 2000, Florio ran for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat that was being vacated by Frank Lautenberg. His opponent was businessman Jon Corzine, former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. In the most expensive Senate primary in history, Corzine won with 246,472 votes, or 58%, while Florio had 179,059 votes, or 42%.[47]

Florio served as the Chairman of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission from November 2002 to June 2005. As a congressman in the late 1970s, he was instrumental in shaping the legislation that established the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve. He was a critic of the George W. Bush administration and the Iraq War. In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, he made a connection between the war and Bush's energy policy saying, "the nation's right to know has never been more important".[48]

Florio supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries for President.[49]

Florio served on the board of directors of Trump Entertainment Resorts until he and other board members were forced to resign following the company's entry into its third bankruptcy.[50] He also served on the board of Plymouth Financial Company, Inc. He was a founding partner and of counsel to the law firm of Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt, Cappelli, Tipton & Taylor.[51]

Florio taught at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.[52]