Michael James Pappas (born December 29, 1960) is an American politician and former one term Republican

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, serving from 1997 to 1999. He is currently the Township Administrator in

Bridgewater, New Jersey Bridgewater Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region. Situated within Central Jersey, Cen ...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate for

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

in New Jersey's 16th legislative district in the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and 2023 elections.

Early life and education

Pappas, a

Greek American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

, was born in 1960 in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Zarephath, New Jersey, and attended

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

Political career

He got into politics in the early 1980s, becoming a member of the Franklin Township township council where he served from 1982 to 1987, including two years as mayor. He later would be elected to the

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

for Somerset County, and served from 1984 to 1996, alongside future Governor

Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush ...

, who was also a Freeholder during portions of that time.

Congress

New Jersey Delegation before the Joint Economic Committee Hearing on Auto Insurance Reform

In 1996, Pappas ran for the House of Representatives in New Jersey's 12th congressional district. The incumbent, Republican Dick Zimmer, gave up his seat to run for the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

that year. Pappas won the Republican primary, defeating State Senator John O. Bennett and Assemblyman (and future 7th district Representative) Leonard Lance. He then won the general election against Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio. Unlike most New Jersey Republicans, Pappas was a staunch conservative. His congressional service included pushing for a stronger national defense, the elimination of the

capital gains tax A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property. In South Africa, capital g ...

, advocacy for

small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

, securing the release of the battleship USS ''New Jersey'' to the state of New Jersey as a museum, and resurrecting the controversial "Star Wars"

national missile defense National missile defense (NMD) refers to the nationwide antimissile program the United States has had under development since the 1990s. After the renaming in 2002, the term now refers to the entire program, not just the ground-based intercepto ...

. He was a strong supporter of the

impeachment of Bill Clinton Bill Clinton, the List of presidents of the United States, 42nd president of the United States, was Federal impeachment in the United States, impeached by the United States House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on Decem ...

, and his infamous singing of "Twinkle, Twinkle,

Kenneth Starr Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who as Special prosecutor, independent counsel authored the Starr Report, which served as the basis of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an i ...

" on the House floor contributed to his defeat by Rush Holt in 1998. In 2000, Pappas unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for his old congressional seat, losing a highly contentious primary to the more moderate Zimmer by 62 to 38% margin. Holt narrowly defeated Zimmer in the general election to retain his seat.

Later career

During the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...

, Pappas worked for the

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He moved back to New Jersey in 2009 after Bush's presidency ended. In June 2016, Pappas was hired as the Borough Administrator of High Bridge, New Jersey. In December 2019, Pappas was named by Bridgewater Mayor-elect Matt Moench to be the municipality's next Township Administrator.

State Senate campaign

In 2021, Pappas announced that he would be running for the Republican nomination for State Senate in New Jersey's 16th legislative district. The incumbent, Christopher "Kip" Bateman, a moderate Republican who barely won re-election in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, decided to retire. The 16th district had previously been a safe Republican district, but after re-districting in 2011, it became a swing district after the removal of Bridgewater and the addition of

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

. Both of its Assembly seats flipped from red to blue during the 2010s decade. In the early stages of the race, he again competed against Zimmer, who, like Pappas, was also making his first run for political office in over a decade. After Pappas won the organization line for Somerset County, a large part of the 16th district, Zimmer dropped out of the race. Pappas won the Republican primary in June 2021. He lost the general election to Democrat Andrew Zwicker, the district's state assemblyman in November 2021.

Electoral history

References

External links

* * *
Official US Congress site
(via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pappas, Mike 1960 births Living people American people of Greek descent County commissioners in New Jersey Mayors of places in New Jersey New Jersey city council members People from Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey Politicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey Small Business Administration personnel 20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey 21st-century New Jersey politicians 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives