New Jersey’s 36th Legislative District is in North Jersey. Its boundaries changed slightly after the recent reapportionment. It covers parts of Bergen County (Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Fairview, Lyndhurst, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, Wallington, and Wood-Ridge) and Passaic City in Passaic County.
The district has been largely represented by Democrats since the 1970s. Currently, about 41% of registered voters in the district are Democrats and 19% are Republicans with most of the rest unaffiliated.
All three incumbent Democrats are seeking reelection and being challenged by the same Republicans who lost in 2021.
Sen. Paul Sarlo, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, joined the Assembly in 2002 and the Senate a year later and is also mayor of Wood-Ridge. Challenging the incumbent is Republican Chris Auriemma, a US Army veteran and firefighter from Lyndhurst who lost a Senate bid to Sarlo two years ago.
The Democratic Assembly incumbents are Clinton Calabrese, a Cliffside Park man who works for an investment firm and took office in 2018, and Gary Schaer, an investment consultant and former mayor of Passaic. They face, again, Republicans Craig Auriemma, a veteran from Lyndhurst and Chris Auriemma’s twin brother, and Joseph Viso of Carlstadt.