TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey’s newest state senator was sworn in Thursday succeeding his late father, but a quirk of timing means he is also on the ballot this year for the Assembly.
Republican Anthony M. Bucco resigned his Assembly seat Thursday and moments later was sworn in during a short, somber ceremony to the Senate seat his father, Anthony R. Bucco, held until he died last month of a heart attack at 81.
The state constitution bars people from holding Assembly and Senate seats simultaneously, so Bucco said he resigned the Assembly post.
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He was running for re-election to the Assembly with his name on the ballot when his father unexpectedly died, coincidentally on the same day as the ballot preparation deadline for this year’s election.
That means he’s asking voters to elect him to the Assembly even though he plans to serve in the Senate, which is not on the ballot this year.
“I haven’t had control over this process since it started,” Bucco said in an interview after he was sworn in. “Somebody asked me the other day what is it like having to run for office in this condition and it’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible. This is a position I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney, who sets the agenda in the upper chamber, called the timing of Bucco’s swearing-in “awkward” since he’s on the ballot for an office he’s not planning to hold, but added that Bucco’s own party nominated him to succeed his father.
The state constitution calls for the county committee of the party that controlled the vacant seat to nominate a successor.
Both Buccos represented the 25th District, which covers parts of Morris and Somerset counties.
The younger Bucco and his GOP running mate Brian Bergen face Democrats Lisa Bhimani and Darcy Draeger.
Election Day is Nov. 5.
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