Marcia A. Karrow

Marcia A. Karrow (born March 10, 1959) is an American politician affiliated with the Republican Party. She is currently serving as the mayor of Flemington, New Jersey. She previously served in the New Jersey State Senate representing the 23rd Legislative District from February 9, 2009 to November 23, 2009. She previously served for three years in the General Assembly representing the same district she represented in the Senate.

Marcia A. Karrow
Mayor of Flemington, New Jersey
Assumed office
January 3, 2023
Preceded byBetsy Driver
Executive Director - New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
In office
January 1, 2011 – October 2015
Chairperson, Subcommittee on Environmental Protection for Governor-Elect Chris Christie
In office
2009–2010
Member of the New Jersey State Senate from the 23rd district
In office
February 8, 2009 – November 23, 2009
Preceded byLeonard Lance
Succeeded byMichael J. Doherty
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 23rd District
In office
January 10, 2006 – February 9, 2009
Serving with Michael J. Doherty
Preceded byConnie Myers
Succeeded byJohn DiMaio
Member of the Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders
In office
1994–2005
Member of the Raritan Township Committee
In office
1999–2002
Personal details
Born (1959-03-10) March 10, 1959
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceFlemington Borough
Alma materSmith College (B.A.)
University of Michigan (M.A.)
Baruch College (M.B.A.)

In the assembly, Karrow was one of two assemblymembers representing the 23rd district, the other being Michael J. Doherty. When Leonard Lance resigned from the State Senate after his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, Karrow and Doherty ran against each other in a January 24, 2009 special election convention for the right to succeed him, with Karrow winning. However, Doherty decided to run against Karrow again in the June 2009 Republican primary election for the State Senate seat, and he defeated her. After going on to win the general election in November of that year against Democrat Harvey Baron, Doherty succeeded Karrow in the State Senate on November 23, 2009.

Biography

A 1977 graduate of Hunterdon Central Regional High School,[1] Karrow graduated with a B.A. from Smith College in History (1981), an M.A. from the University of Michigan in Classical Archaeology (1985) and was awarded a M.B.A. from Baruch College of the City University of New York in 1991 (Finance/Budget).[2]

Karrow's father, Sol, served on the borough council in Flemington, New Jersey from 1963 to 1980 and owned a men's shop on Main Street in the town.[3]

Political career

Local politics

Karrow served on the Raritan Township Committee from 1994 to 2002, as Deputy Mayor in 1996, and as Mayor in 1998. She served on the Raritan Township Planning Board from 1992 to 1993 and in 1998. She served on the Raritan Township Environmental Commission from 1994, the Raritan Township Open Space Advisory Committee from 1997, the Raritan Township Agricultural Advisory Board from 1999, and on the Raritan Township Economic Development Committee from 1994 to 1996. She also served on the Flemington Partnership for Progress on its board of directors / chair, Economic Restructuring from 1994 to 1997 and on the Governor's Planning Council on Aging in 1994. Karrow was a member of the Raritan Valley Community College Search Committee from 1995 to 1998.[4]

Karrow has also served on the Hunterdon County Health and Human Services Advisory Council from 1995 to 1998, and as its Vice Chair in 1997; Hunterdon County Mental Health Board from 1993 to 1998; Hunterdon County Work Force Investment Board from 1997; Hunterdon County Planning Board Growth Management Task Force on Industrial and Commercial Growth from 1996; Hunterdon Economic Partnership Board of Directors in 1998; Hunterdon County Municipal Officers Association as its President from 1997 to 1998; and the Hunterdon County Council on Aging from 1993 to 1996.[4]

Karrow served on the Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders beginning in 1999, and served as the Freeholder Director from 1999 to 2000. As a Freeholder, Karrow served on the Hunterdon County Planning Board (Liaison), Health and Human Services (Liaison), Hunterdon County Economic Partnership (Liaison), Work Force Investment Board (Member), Polytech Special Sub-Committee (Member) and the Hunterdon County Agriculture Development Board (Liaison).[4]

State legislature

Karrow was elected to the Assembly on November 8, 2005, filling the seat of fellow Republican Connie Myers, who did not run for reelection and had held the seat since 1996. In the Assembly she served on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and the Budget Committee.[2] She resigned from her Assembly seat on February 9, 2009 when she is sworn into the State Senate.

Karrow was appointed to seats on the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Senate Labor Committee by Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. after her swearing into the Senate.[5] Lance served as Ranking Minority Member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee during his last year in the Senate.

2009 State Senate race

On November 20, 2008, Karrow announced her intention to run for the State Senate seat vacated by Leonard Lance, who was elected to represent the 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.[6] Karrow's opponent in the race was Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty.[7] Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt originally planned to run for the vacancy as well, but dropped out to run for one of the Assembly vacancies opened up by Karrow or Doherty.[8]

On January 24, 2009, a special election was held by a convention of Republican committee members from Hunterdon and Warren counties. Karrow defeated Doherty in the special election by a margin of 195 votes to 143. Doherty announced he would run against Karrow a second time in the June 2009 primary, when she would be running as the incumbent.[9]

The Hunterdon and Warren county Republican committee members held another special convention on February 21, 2009 to fill Karrow's vacant Assembly seat. In the contest, Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio defeated Hunterdon County Freeholders Matt Holt and Erik Peterson.[10][11]

On June 2, 2009, Doherty defeated Karrow in the Republican Senate primary by a margin of 52%-48%.[12][13] Doherty went on to win the November special election, defeating Democratic candidate Harvey Baron to fill the remaining two years of the term.[14] Karrow's Senate term ended on November 23, 2009 when Doherty was sworn into office.[15]

Post-state legislature

In November 2009, Karrow was named a member of the transition team of Governor-Elect Chris Christie, serving as chair of the subcommittee on environmental protection.[16]

Karrow was chosen in December 2010 to serve as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, succeeding Robert Ceberio, who had held the position for eight years; she had a starting compensation of $148,000 per year, more than triple her salary as a State Senator.[17][18] After the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority took over the responsibilities of the Meadowlands Commission, Karrow's role as director ended in October 2015.[19]

Karrow later served as the administrator of Middlesex, New Jersey from 2019 until her retirement in 2022.[3] She would then announce her run for Mayor of Flemington, New Jersey (she had eventually moved there from neighboring Raritan Township after serving on Raritan's township committee from 1999 to 2002) against incumbent Democrat Betsy Driver. She would defeat Driver in the November 2022 election by just 94 votes.[20]

References
  1. Cummins, Emily. "Who is the coolest grad? Pick your favorite Hunterdon alum", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, June 25, 2015. Accessed January 20, 2018. "Republican Marcia Karrow, who now serves as Executive Director of the state Meadowlands Commission, attended Hunterdon County Regional High School, graduating in 1977."
  2. Assemblywoman Karrow's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed April 16, 2008.
  3. Deak, Mike (November 4, 2022). "Flemington mayor challenged by political veteran in 2022 election". Yahoo! Finance. MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  4. "Hunterdon County Freeholder biography of Marcia Karrow". Archived from the original on August 16, 2007. Retrieved 2006-01-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Accessed February 14, 2008.
  5. "Karrow to serve on Appropriations Committee". PolitickerNJ. 2009-01-24. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  6. Wichert, Bill (2008-11-21). "Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow enters race to become state senator in 23rd Legislative District". The Express-Times. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  7. Wichert, Bill (2008-12-15). "Three Republicans vie to fill state Senate seat due to be vacated by Leonard Lance". The Express-Times. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  8. "Holt decides to run for assembly instead of state senate". PolitickerNJ. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  9. "Karrow wins; calls for unity as Doherty vows to fight on in the primary". PolitickerNJ. 2009-01-24. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  10. Novak, Stephen J. (2009-02-01). "GOP convention picks to fill district Senate and Assembly seats could lead to contentious primary season". The Express-Times. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  11. Olanoff, Lynn (2009-02-22). "John DiMaio named to fill Assembly seat". The Express-Times. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  12. "2009 New Jersey Primary Election Updates". NJ.com. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  13. "Karrow loses in Hunterdon and Warren". PolitickerNJ. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  14. Wichert, Bill (2009-11-04). "Republican Michael Doherty wins New Jersey Senate post; GOP running mates John DiMaio and Erik Peterson capture state Assembly seats". The Express-Times. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  15. Wichert, Bill (2009-11-23). "Michael Doherty sworn in as new state senator representing Warren, Hunterdon counties". The Express-Times. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  16. "Christie names 19 subcommittee chairs". PolitickerNJ. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  17. Bresswein, Kurt. "Marcia Karrow named executive director of New Jersey Meadowlands Commission", The Express-Times, December 1, 2010. Accessed January 20, 2018. "The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission today named Marcia Karrow as its new executive director. She was appointed by its seven-member board of commissioners.... Karrow starts Jan. 1 and succeeds Robert Ceberio. Ceberio worked for the Meadowlands Commission nearly 30 years, including the last eight as executive director."
  18. Marcia A. Karrow - Executive Director Archived 2014-07-29 at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. Accessed July 19, 2014.
  19. "Ex-Meadowlands Commission director has new role", The Record, July 7, 2016. Accessed January 20, 2018. "For 45 years, the Meadowlands Commission served as the state agency that oversaw planning, development, and environmental issues in the southern Bergen and northern Hudson county region. The last executive director, it turned out, was Marcia Karrow.... Karrow’s position wasn’t officially eliminated until last October, however."
  20. Fox, Joey (November 8, 2022). "Karrow unseats Driver in Flemington". New Jersey Globe. Mayfair Media. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
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