Ronald L. Rice (December 18, 1945 – March 15, 2023) was an American Democratic Party politician who served in the

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 ...

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

from 1986 to 2022. He represented the 28th Legislative District. Rice is one of the longest-serving state senators in New Jersey history.

Early life

Rice received an A.S. from

Essex County College Essex County College (ECC) is a public community college in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. History In August 1966, the Essex County Board of Freeholders approved the creation of Essex County College and in September 1968, more tha ...

Police Science Police science or police studies is the study of police work. It is a subfield of criminology and sociology. As an interdisciplinary science, the field includes contributions from political science, forensic science, anthropology, psychology, juris ...

, a B.S. from

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts col ...

in Administration and Planning, and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in Criminal Justice. He has also attended but never graduated from the

Rutgers School of Law—Newark Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. He served as a

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in the

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

from 1966 to 1970, in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. Before entering politics, Rice was a police officer with the Newark Police Department for eight years, then a security employee for

PSE&G The Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc. (PSEG) is a publicly traded energy company based in Newark, New Jersey. It was founded in 1985, with its roots tracing back to 1903. Its largest subsidiary is Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE ...

. Kelly, Mike
"Ronald Rice's lonely quest to block legal pot"
''

The Record The Record may refer to: Music * The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...

'', March 15, 2019. Accessed January 31, 2022.

Newark City Council

Rice served 16 years on the Newark City Council (1982-1998), and he was the

Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

of Newark from 2002 until March 2006. He stepped down as deputy mayor in order to run for mayor. As dual office holding was not banned in New Jersey, he was able to serve on both the city council and in the State Senate at the same time.

New Jersey Senate

Following the death of John P. Caufield in August 1986, Rice was elected in a special election to serve the 28th district and was seated on December 4, 1986. He never received less than two thirds of the vote in any of his Senate general elections, though he faced close challenges in the Democratic primaries from Laurence Brown in 1997, Assemblyman Willie B. Brown in 2001, and Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley in 2007. He was one of only two Democrats in the Senate to vote no on two bills to legalize

same-sex marriage in New Jersey Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in New Jersey since October 21, 2013, the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating the state's restriction of marriage to persons of different sexes. In September 2013, Mary C. Jacobson, ...

in 2009 and 2012, the other twice-dissenting Democrat was

Jeff Van Drew Jefferson Van Drew (born February 23, 1953) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 2nd congressional district since 2019. He was elected as a Democrat, but has since switched to the Republican Party sinc ...

.Staff
"N.J. Senate approves bill legalizing gay marriage"
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...

'', February 13, 2012. Accessed June 24, 2012. "Two Democrats, Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) and Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), voted no." Rice was one of New Jersey's presidential electors in the 2004 presidential election, for Democratic candidate

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

. He was a leading opponent of legislation in the

218th New Jersey Legislature The 218th New Jersey Legislature began on January 9, 2018 following the 2017 Elections. The session started in the end of Chris Christie's governorship and continued in the first two years of Phil Murphy's governorship. Background The electi ...

to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, arguing that legalization would force urban neighborhoods to "struggle against the spread of 'marijuana bodegas' disguised as dispensaries".Corasaniti, Nick
"Effort to Legalize Marijuana in New Jersey Collapses"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', March 25, 2019. Accessed January 31, 2022. "'The public has not properly been educated on the topic of recreational marijuana,’’ said Senator Ronald L. Rice, a Democrat who represents Newark and emerged as one of the main opponents of legalization. 'People don’t realize, particularly people in urban communities, how it will affect their lives. In urban communities, neighborhoods will struggle against the spread of 'marijuana bodegas' disguised as dispensaries.'"

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session (until his resignation on August 31, 2022) are:Senator Ronald Rice

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

. Accessed January 30, 2022. *Community and Urban Affairs, Vice-Chair *Joint Committee on Housing Affordability *Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunities *Joint Committee on the Public Schools *Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens

District 28

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232,225 (2020 figure ...

and two members in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

. The representatives from the 28th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are: * Senator Ronald Rice (D) * Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D) * Assemblywoman

Cleopatra Tucker Cleopatra Gibson Tucker (born April 9, 1943) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 28th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2008. Biography Tucker was born and raised in Birmingham, Alab ...

(D)

Newark mayoral bids

1998

Rice had run unsuccessfully for Mayor of Newark in 1998 being defeated by incumbent mayor (and future Senate colleague)

Sharpe James Sharpe James (February 20, 1936 – May 11, 2025) was an American politician from New Jersey. A Democrat, he served as the 37th mayor of Newark from 1986 to 2006 and as a state senator for the 29th legislative district from 1999 to 2008. He ...

, who won with 56% of the vote; Rice was in second, with 28%.

2006

On March 6, 2006, Rice entered the mayoral race again, noting "that Mayor James had encouraged him to run but noted that if the mayor decided to join the race, his candidacy could change." On March 27, 2006, James announced that he would not seek a sixth term, preferring to focus on his seat in the

. On Election Day, May 9, 2006, Newark's

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

election took place. Former City Councilman

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...

won with 72% of the vote, soundly defeating Rice, the runner-up, who received 23%.

Personal life and death

Rice left office on August 31, 2022, due to health issues. He died on March 15, 2023, in Newark, New Jersey. He was 77.Senator Ronald L. Rice has Died
/ref> His son, Ronald C. Rice, is a former city councilman in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

References

External links

Senator Rice's legislative web page

*''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
2016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004
*
“The Writing on the Wall”

New Jersey Network The New Jersey Network (NJN) was a network of public television and radio stations serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. NJN was a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for television and the National Public Radio (NPR) for radio, b ...

, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia,

American Archive of Public Broadcasting The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The AAPB is a national effort to di ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Ronald 1945 births 2023 deaths African-American state legislators in New Jersey Essex County College alumni John Jay College of Criminal Justice alumni Democratic Party New Jersey state senators Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Rutgers University alumni 2004 United States presidential electors United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War Members of the Municipal Council of Newark African-American city council members in New Jersey 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the New Jersey Legislature 20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature