Credit: (Peter Miller via Flickr)

Asian Americans became the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S., accounting for nearly 83% of New Jersey’s population growth from 2000 to 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

And that, in small ways, will be reflected in New Jersey’s new state Legislature sworn in on Tuesday. The number of Asian American legislators will be doubled from three to six following the results of the November elections. Assemblywomen-elect Sadaf Jaffer (D-Somerset), Shama Haider (D-Bergen) and Ellen Park (D-37th) will be joining Assembly members Sterley Stanley (D-Middlesex) and Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson) as well as Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth). Jaffer and Haider will be the first Muslim American politicians to serve in the Legislature, and Park will be the first Korean American.

While these lawmakers will account for just 5% of the state Assembly and Senate — compared to the demographic comprising 10.2% of the state’s population — it’s part of a series of wins in 2021 for Asian American legislators in the state, following nearly two years of hate crimes and xenophobia that surged nationwide because of COVID-19’s origins in China. Asian American state politicians worked to increase representation last year by establishing an Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commission to address community needs and passing a bill to require schools to teach AAPI history.

Here are the state’s newest Asian American legislators:

SADAF JAFFER

Credit: (Princeton Historian; CC BY-SA 4.0)

Jaffer served as Montgomery Township’s mayor from January 2019 to December 2020. She was the first female South Asian and is regarded as the nation’s first female Muslim mayor.

Describing herself as an educator and activist, Jaffer is a postdoctoral research associate in South Asian studies at Princeton University. She ran on the platform of “Prosperity and justice for all,” with the goal to promote economic recovery and innovation, create living wages, end immigration detention and more.

SHAMA HAIDER

Credit: (Johnson, Haider, Park for District 37 from Twitter)

Haider has served in public office before — she was a councilwoman in Tenafly in 2001 and 2015 and was a secretary to the first lady of Pakistan, Begum Nusrat Bhutto. Haider told NorthJersey.com in an interview that she doesn’t “want to be this token Muslim woman in the Assembly” and would like to instead be known as an “effective legislator.” She also said she wants to work on legislation improving the environment and teaching diversity in schools.

Haider ran alongside Park on the Assembly ticket and Gordon Johnson for the Senate to represent the 37th district. Johnson is a former assemblyman for the same county and will be sworn in as a senator, taking over the reins for retiring Sen. Loretta Weinberg. Haider and Park are also replacing longtime Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, who ran for Weinberg’s seat and lost the June Democratic primary.

ELLEN PARK

Credit: (Democratic Party)

Park, like Haider, is a former councilwoman who served in her borough of Englewood Cliffs in 2015 and 2018. Her goal is “to elevate the protection of open space, clean air, and water, in addition to promoting green energy,” according to the New Jersey League of Women Voters.

Park told NorthJersey.com that she wants to increase outreach to district residents regardless of the language they speak.