Sen. Richard Codey, NJ's longest-serving legislator and a former governor, is retiring

Former governor and state Sen. Richard J. Codey, the longest-serving legislator in New Jersey history, who held the top post for a 14-month period, announced he will be stepping down after 50 years of service.

He said he will finish out the Senate term this year and then retire.

The Roseland Democrat, who first took office as a state assemblyman when he was just 27, became a state senator in 1982 and Senate president in 2002. After Gov. James E. McGreevey resigned from office in November 2004, Codey, a Democrat, served as New Jersey’s governor from November 2004 to January 2006 before returning to his post as Senate president.

"Putting everything together, I don't want to do another four, five years,'' the 76-year-old Democrat said in an interview Monday. "It's time. It's not supposed to be forever."

Announcing his decision on his website, Codey, who first was elected assemblyman from Orange in 1973, said: "I’m not gonna lie, this is a tough day for me. An emotional day."

"I've fought for who and what I believe in, even when it wasn’t easy. I’ve made lifelong friends and lifelong enemies — and I’m proud of both lists!"

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Codey, who grew up around his family's funeral home, still runs the business — Codey Funeral Home in Caldwell and Codey & Mackey Funeral Home in Boonton. He was born in 1946, graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University and maintains a business as an insurance consultant.

In 2004, Codey was the Senate president, the second-most-powerful post in New Jersey politics. It not only gave him control of the Senate agenda — and the ability to block judicial appointments — but it also required him to assume the role of governor if the incumbent vacated the office. But beyond Trenton and political circles, Codey was largely an unknown figure to most New Jersey households outside his district of affluent suburban towns in Essex and Morris counties.

Then, when McGreevey announced his resignation that year on Aug. 12 after publicly confessing to having an affair with a male aide, Codey found himself at the center of the political universe, with the media world bearing down on him as the McGreevey episode unfolded into a nationally watched scandal.

He recalled that his wife, Mary Jo, was about to undergo some minor surgery that day when he got the call that McGreevey was stepping down. His first reaction was "How do I tell her that?" he said. "She goes into surgery as a normal housewife and comes out as the first lady."

He added, "It was scary at first, no doubt about it. I was a little worried that I could do this. But after a couple of months, I said, 'I got this.'"

Voters quickly took to the blunt-spoken insurance broker, who was "born and raised" in a funeral home and the first in his family to go to college, he said. He seemed like he was cut from the Jersey grain, a suburban everyman who was quick with the one-liners and loved going to the movies on Saturday night. Codey burnished that appeal by refusing to move into the governor's mansion in Princeton and continuing to coach youth basketball despite the new job demands.

By 2005, Codey notched a 76% approval rating among New Jersey voters in a Star Ledger-Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics poll.

"I think we concentrated on issues that people could relate to, and I think they could relate to me,'' he said. "One of of my best memories of being governor is when you went to the movies, or you went to a restaurant or a diner, people stood up and applauded. That's pretty cool."

Codey had established a reputation as one of the staunchest supporters of gun control, but would occasionally ask to meet and discuss his views with affiliates of the National Rifle Association, where he faced polite but firm opposition.

As acting governor, Codey championed the state's ban on indoor smoking, created the state's first inspector general post, and signed laws restricting "pay to play" contributions from businesses that had sought state contracts.

Codey, whose sister was a Catholic nun, angered the state's Roman Catholic bishops by authorizing funds for stem cell research and pushing for New Jersey to be a national leader in the field. Catholic leaders opposed the process because it required the destruction of embryos, but Codey argued that stem cells could pave the way for a wide range of cures and therapies for a range of chronic illnesses.

Yet it was the focus on mental health, bolstered by his wife's admission about her struggles with postpartum depression, that he believes is the hallmark of his tenure. He and his wife launched a campaign to boost awareness of mental health in a series of public service announcements.

“It is impossible to imagine what New Jersey would look like today without the visionary, dedicated, and principled leadership of Governor Dick Codey,'' Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement.

Yet concerns that an acting governor doubling as Senate president concentrated too much power in one person prompted voters to pass a constitutional amendment creating the post of lieutenant governor in November 2005. Codey would be the last person to hold both posts.

Shortly before leaving office, Codey signed a law that would bestow the formal title of "governor of New Jersey" on anyone who served in the post for at least 180 consecutive days. It applied to him and former Republican President Sen. Donald T. DiFrancesco, who was acting governor after Christine Todd Whitman resigned in 2001.

He considered running for his own four-year term for governor, but party leaders coalesced around then-Sen. Jon S. Corzine, who held out the promise of self-funding most of his campaign, which included pumping millions into county party campaign accounts. Corzine easily defeated Republican Douglas Forrester in November 2005, and Codey returned to his perch as Senate president.

After Corzine's loss in 2009, Codey was ousted from the Senate president post in a deal brokered by South Jersey Democratic Party leader George E. Norcross III, the state's most powerful unelected Democrat and Codey's arch political enemy for years.

But the agreement also won the blessing of Joseph N. DiVincenczo Jr., the executive of Codey's home county of Essex. (It was the same agreement that elevated Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, D-East Orange, to the role of Assembly speaker. Oliver died on Aug. 1.)

Codey accused Norcross of deploying underhanded tactics — creating an anti-Codey website, commissioning opposition research — to weaken support among his 23 fellow Democratic senators. Norcross brushed aside Codey's claims. His complaints failed to disrupt the deal.

Codey was replaced by Norcross' high-school friend Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and returned to the Senate floor as representative of the 26th District.

But Norcross, in a statement Monday, wished Codey well.

"Even when we didn't see eye-to-eye on issues, Governor Codey always was a man of his word,'' Norcross said. "I wish him the very best in his retirement after dedicating so much of his life to the residents of New Jersey."

An avid sports fan, Codey has coached travel basketball teams for decades, and in 2019 his West Orange-based team won the 14-and-under Boys AAU National Championship.

When the James Caldwell High School football team won a state championship in 2021, Codey bought the team championship rings.

Codey is stepping down even though in June he defeated state Sen. Nia Gill in a Democratic primary for the redrawn 27th Legislative District. Asked why he went through a contested primary only to drop his bid for the November election, Codey said he "didn't want to back off from a fight."

Democratic officials until Aug. 31 to pick a replacement. Assemblyman John F. McKeon, D-West Orange, is among the leading candidates.

Codey's district covers the western Essex and eastern Morris towns of Caldwell, Chatham Township, East Hanover, Essex Fells, Florham Park, Hanover, Harding, Livingston, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn, Roseland, South Orange and West Orange.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Sen. Codey, NJ's longest serving legislator, is retiring