Holly Schepisi

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

American politician (born 1971)

title: "Holly Schepisi" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1971-births", "living-people", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "20th-century-american-women-lawyers", "21st-century-american-lawyers", "21st-century-american-women-lawyers", "21st-century-american-women-politicians", "21st-century-members-of-the-new-jersey-legislature", "businesspeople-from-bergen-county,-new-jersey", "catholic-university-of-america-alumni", "fordham-university-school-of-law-alumni", "lawyers-from-bergen-county,-new-jersey", "people-from-river-vale,-new-jersey", "politicians-from-bergen-county,-new-jersey", "republican-party-members-of-the-new-jersey-general-assembly", "republican-party-new-jersey-state-senators", "women-state-legislators-in-new-jersey"] description: "American politician (born 1971)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Schepisi" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (born 1971) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Holly Schepisi
image	Schepisi-hires.jpg
state_senate	New Jersey
district	39th
term_start	March 25, 2021
predecessor	Gerald Cardinale
state_assembly1	New Jersey
district1	39th
term_start1	January 10, 2012
term_end1	March 24, 2021
predecessor1	Charlotte Vandervalk
successor1	DeAnne DeFuccio
birth_date
party	Republican
spouse	Paul Garfinkel
children	2
education	Catholic University (BA)
Fordham University (JD)
website
::

Schepisi previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly, from January 10, 2012, until March 24, 2021. She has served as Deputy Minority Leader since January 14, 2020, and served as Assistant Minority Leader for two years before then. On March 9, 2021, she was chosen to succeed long-serving Senator Gerald Cardinale in the State Senate, who died in office. She was sworn in on March 25, 2021.

Background

Schepisi was born on December 20, 1971, the daughter of John A. Schepisi, a lawyer and former chairman of the Bergen County Republican Organization. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Catholic University of America in politics and psychology in 1993, and a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law in 1997. While in college, she worked at the 1992 Republican National Convention, interned for Organization of American States, Congresswoman Marge Roukema, and a member of the British Parliament. In 2007, she began serving as the Township Attorney for River Vale, a position she held until 2011. In addition, she was also a public defender for Oakland (2012–2014) and an alternate prosecutor for Old Tappan (2010–2011) and Westwood (2002–2011).

, Schepisi and her husband, Paul Garfinkel, live in River Vale, New Jersey; they have two children.

New Jersey Assembly

In August 2011, Charlotte Vandervalk announced her retirement from the General Assembly seat in the 39th district. She was sworn in on January 10, 2012.

Tenure

In 2014, Schepisi introduced a bill that would have weakened vaccination requirements for school children. The bill would have allowed certain children under the age of six to attend school without receiving a Hepatitis B vaccine. Schepisi stated that the debunked link between vaccines and autism was not her "primary rationale" for introducing the bill. The bill did not become law. In the summer of 2017, Schepisi held the first of several planned public hearing in Paramus with various civic leaders on mandated affordable housing under the Mount Laurel Doctrine with local mayors and other state assembly members. In October 2018 Schepisi joined then-Republican State Senator Dawn Addiego and Republicans Kristin Corrado, Amy Handlin, DiAnne Gove, Serena DiMaso, BettyLou DeCroce, and Nancy Munoz in calling for an investigation into Governor Phil Murphy's hiring practices.

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session are:

Community and Urban Affairs
Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens

District 39

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 39th District for the 2024—25 Legislative Session are:

Senator Holly Schepisi (R)
Assemblyman Robert Auth (R)
Assemblywoman John V. Azzariti (R)

Electoral history

New Jersey Senate

New Jersey Assembly

2019

In what was one of the most competitive races in 2019 Schepisi and her running mate Robert Auth won re-election by 6,000 and 4,000 votes respectively. During the campaign, controversy surrounding Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick's law website drew their Democratic opponents, Gerald Falotico and John Birkner, to call on them to condemn the website.

2017

2015

In a generally bad year for Republicans in New Jersey, Schepisi and Auth cruised to re-election.

2013

In 2013 Governor Chris Christie easily beat Democrat Barbara Buono and Schepisi and her new running mate Robert Auth easily beat their Democratic opponents.

2011

After the 2011 re-districting the 39th District was still widely considered "safe republican". Schepisi ran for the Assembly for the first time and easily placed second.

References

(10 March 2021). "Schepisi narrowly defeats Auth for Cardinale Senate seat".
(March 25, 2021). "Schepisi sworn in to state Senate to fill Cardinale seat".
Max Pizarro. (2011-08-31). "Schepisi consolidates support in LD39". PolitickerNJ.com.
"Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi". New Jersey Assembly Republicans.
Racioppi, Dustin. (May 29, 2015). "River Vale Assemblywoman recovering from surgery after brain aneurysm". [[The Record (North Jersey).
Deena Yellin. (2011-11-08). "GOP incumbents Cardinale and Schroeder, newcomer Schepisi win in 39th District". [[The Record (North Jersey).
[http://njelections.org/election-results/2011-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-results-121411.pdf Official List Candidate Returns for General Assembly For November 2011 General Election], [[New Jersey Department of State]], December 14, 2011. Accessed January 29, 2012.
(2012-01-10). "Turnover in N.J. Legislature is slight". [[Asbury Park Press]].
Avril, Tom. (November 29, 2018). "Vaccine rules under fire from state lawmakers".
Assemblywoman hears mayors concerns on court-mandated affordable housing https://njersy.co/2syG9yI
(11 October 2018). "GOP women call for investigation of Murphy hiring". New Jersey Globe.
[https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-roster/430/senator-schepisi Senator Holly T. Schepisi], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed February 20, 2022.
[https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/constitution New Jersey State Constitution 1947 (Updated Through Amendments Adopted in November, 2020): Article IV, Section II], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed January 28, 2022.
[https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-roster?district=39 Legislative Roster for District 39], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed January 11, 2024.
(December 6, 2023). "Official List, Candidates for State Senate for GENERAL ELECTION 11/07/2023 Election".
(November 30, 2021). "Official List, Candidates for State Senate For GENERAL ELECTION 11/02/2021 Election". [[Secretary of State of New Jersey]].
(14 October 2019). "LD39 Dems call on incumbents to condemn Bramnick over website". New Jersey Globe.
"2019-official-general-results-general-assembly.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf". Wayback Machine.
"2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf". Wayback Machine.
"2013-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf". Wayback Machine.
"New Jersey Division of Elections". New Jersey Secretary of State.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::