Michael Patrick Carroll

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American politician

title: "Michael Patrick Carroll" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1958-births", "living-people", "delbarton-school-alumni", "johns-hopkins-university-alumni", "republican-party-members-of-the-new-jersey-general-assembly", "lawyers-from-morris-county,-new-jersey", "politicians-from-fayetteville,-north-carolina", "politicians-from-morris-county,-new-jersey", "people-from-morris-township,-new-jersey", "rutgers-school-of-law–newark-alumni", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "21st-century-american-lawyers", "21st-century-members-of-the-new-jersey-legislature"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Patrick_Carroll" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

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

Field	Value
name	Michael Patrick Carroll
image	ESGR recognizes N.J. Assembly Speaker - Michael Patrick Carroll.jpg
office1	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 25th District
term_start1	January 9, 1996
term_end1	January 14, 2020
predecessor1	Arthur R. Albohn
successor1	Brian Bergen
office2	Assembly Minority Parliamentarian
term_start2	January 10, 2012
term_end2	January 14, 2020
leader2	Jon Bramnick
predecessor2	James Holzapfel
successor2	Erik Peterson
term_start3	January 8, 2002
term_end3	January 10, 2006
leader3	Alex DeCroce
successor3	Rick Merkt
party	Republican
birth_date
birth_place	Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
spouse	Sharon Anderson
children	Six
residence	Morris Township, New Jersey
alma_mater	Johns Hopkins University (B.A.)
Rutgers School of Law–Newark (J.D.)
occupation	Politician, Attorney
website	Legislative Website
Assembly Republicans Website
::

Michael Patrick Carroll (born April 8, 1958) is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey. He represented the 25th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1996 to 2020. Carroll did not run for re-election in 2019; instead, he mounted an unsuccessful bid for Morris County Surrogate.

Early life

Carroll was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on April 8, 1958, the son of Maurice C. and Margaret W. Carroll. Carroll moved with his family to Morris Township, New Jersey in 1960. Carroll graduated from Delbarton School in 1976, earned a B.A. in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1980, and received a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1983.

Carroll founded the Morris County Young Republicans, chairing the group for four years. He was first elected to the Morris County Republican Committee for Morris Township in 1980. In 1984, after moving to Morristown, he was elected to the Republican County Committee there, serving as chairman for one term. Returning to Morris Township, he was once again elected to the Republican County Committee.

New Jersey Assembly

Carroll first ran for the Assembly in 1993; he lost that election by fewer than 422 votes to incumbent Assemblyman Arthur R. Albohn (then-Assemblyman Rodney Frelinghuysen received the most votes in the primary). In 1995, Carroll and Anthony Bucco, who was appointed to the Assembly after Frelinghuysen's election to Congress, prevailed in a Republican primary against Rick Merkt, Chris Christie, and two others in the 25th Legislative District; Carroll and Bucco went on to victory in the fall.

Carroll proposed a bill to mandate the reading, in school each morning, of a section of the Declaration of Independence. The April 2003 issue of New Jersey Monthly magazine cited Carroll as the "Most Conservative" member of the New Jersey Legislature. The magazine cited Carroll's "...missionary zeal and his talent for articulating his stances on behalf of individual and property rights, the sanctity of family—including unborn children—and the cult of Reaganism..." in elaborating on their choice.

Carroll "has long been known in state political circles as one of the most socially conservative, and outspoken, members of the legislature". In 2008, "a comment that Carroll made about slavery" made "national headlines. At the time, the New Jersey legislature was weighing whether the state should issue an official apology for slavery. Carroll opposed the measure, and said that African-Americans should actually be grateful for slavery, because it was the means by which they eventually gained American citizenship".

In November 2010, the "Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights" passed both houses of the state legislature. Carroll was the only legislator to vote "no"; he objected "to the fact that it explicitly mentions categories of students subject to bullying".

Morris County Surrogate

Carroll did not run for re-election to the Assembly in 2019, choosing instead to run for Morris County Surrogate. He was defeated in the Republican primary for Surrogate by Morris County Freeholder Heather Darling.

Committees

Higher Education
Judiciary
State and Local Government
Joint Committee on Housing and Affordability

Personal life

In 1983, Carroll married Sharon, née Anderson, whom he met when the two of them worked together at McDonald's. The couple has six children: Sean Michael, James Patrick, Brian Christopher, Jane Eleanor, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Edward Lee.

Electoral history

New Jersey Assembly

References

[http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/BIO.asp?Leg=164 Assemblyman Carroll's legislative web page], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed January 31. 2018.
(August 3, 1993). "Official List Primary Election Returns for the Office of Senate and Assembly for Election Held June 8, 1993". Secretary of State of New Jersey.
"Official List Primary Election Returns for the Office of Senate and Assembly for Election Held June 6, 1995". Secretary of State of New Jersey.
(July 6, 1995). "Official List Primary Election Returns for the Office of General Assembly for Election Held June 6, 1995". Secretary of State of New Jersey.
[https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/a-23-a-2002-02-01-28-1-83112797/118013.html "July 4, 1999 - Declaration of Independence Dispute - 2002-02-01"], [[Voice of America]], February 1, 2002. Accessed January 31, 2018. "RS: There's debate over a bill in the state of New Jersey to require schoolchildren to recite two sentences from the declaration of independence each day.... MICHAEL CARROLL Our students, I think, our children, are not getting a sufficient sense these days of what makes it special to be an American, and in these two short sentences, these fifty-six words, Jefferson distills the essence of what America is all about. AA: Michael Patrick Carroll sponsored the bill in the New Jersey assembly."
""Statehouse Confidential"".
"NJ Lawmaker Said African-Americans Should Be Thankful for Slavery. Now, He Wants a New Job".
Friedman, Matt. (November 23, 2010). "N.J. Legislature advances 'Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights' for Gov. Christie's consideration".
"Carroll to run for Morris County surrogate". New Jersey Globe.
"Darling wins beats Michael Patrick Carroll for Surrogate". New Jersey Insider.
[http://www.michaelcarroll.com/michaelbio.html Michael Patrick Carroll biography] {{webarchive. link. (2006-02-02 . Accessed August 17, 2007.)
"2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2013-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2011-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-results-121411.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2009-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-tallies-120109.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2007-official-general-election-tallies(ga)-12.12.07.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"05831236.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2003g_a_candidate_tally.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"2001-general-elect-gen-assembly-tallies.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"1999-general-elect-gen-assembly-candidate-tallies.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"1997-general-election-results-state-assembly.pdf". New Jersey Secretary of State.
"NJ General Assembly 25".

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