BettyLou DeCroce
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
from the 26th district
In office
January 25, 2012 – January 11, 2022
Serving with Jay Webber
Preceded byAlex DeCroce
Succeeded byChristian Barranco
Personal details
Born
Betty Lou Bisson[1]

(1952-11-17) November 17, 1952
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Alex DeCroce
(1994–2012; his death)
Children2
ResidenceParsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey

BettyLou DeCroce (born November 17, 1952) is an American Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2012 to 2022, where she represented the 26th Legislative District.[2]

Biography and early career

Born and raised in Dover, DeCroce is a realtor who formerly served as the President of the firm ERA Gallo & DeCroce, Inc. She attended Berkeley College and Rutgers University.[3]

A member of the Township Council in Mine Hill Township from 1981 to 1983, DeCroce later served on the Roxbury Township Planning Board from 1984 to 1987. In 1991, she was hired by the township to serve as its Deputy Township Manager from 1991 through 2002 and as its Township Clerk from 1988 to 2010.

In 2010, she was appointed Deputy Commissioner in the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, a position she held until 2012.[3] During this time, she authored the Best Practices for Municipalities, which became a statewide model for identifying efficiencies in local government for reducing property taxes.

DeCroce has served on the Morris County Joint Insurance Fund and was the North Jersey Health Insurance Fund Commissioner.

She married Alex DeCroce, who had been in the Assembly for two terms, in 1994.[4] She currently resides in Parsippany-Troy Hills and has two sons and four grandchildren.[5]

New Jersey Assembly

Alex DeCroce, who had served in the Assembly since 1993, died suddenly on January 9, 2012, at the age of 75, shortly after the 214th Legislature had ended.[6]

On January 25, 2012, BettyLou DeCroce was selected by the Morris County Republican Committee to replace him in the Assembly, defeating former Kinnelon Councilman Larry Casha by a nearly 2-1 margin.[4][7] She won a November 2012 special election for the remainder of the term, defeating Democratic candidate Joseph Raich.[8]

On June 8, 2021, DeCroce lost her reelection bid to former Pompton Lakes Councilman Christian Barranco.[9]

Committee assignments

  • Financial Institutions and Insurance
  • Science, Innovation and Technology
  • Transportation and Independent Authorities
  • Joint Committee on the Public Schools
  • New Jersey Legislative Select Oversight
  • Intergovernmental Relations Commission
  • Manufacturing Caucus

Electoral history

New Jersey Assembly

New Jersey general election, 2017
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jay Webber 31,810 28.2 Decrease 2.1
Republican BettyLou DeCroce 31,766 28.2 Decrease 1.9
Democratic Joseph R. Raich 24,732 22.0 Increase 2.6
Democratic E. William Edge 24,362 21.6 Increase 2.8
Total votes '112,670' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2015
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jay Webber 13,739 30.3 Decrease 2.3
Republican BettyLou DeCroce 13,666 30.1 Decrease 2.8
Democratic Avery Hart 8,805 19.4 Increase 2.0
Democratic Wayne B. Marek 8,525 18.8 Increase 1.7
Green Jimmy D. Brash 666 1.5 N/A
Total votes '45,401' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2013
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican BettyLou DeCroce 35,352 32.9 Increase 0.9
Republican Jay Webber 35,028 32.6 Increase 1.2
Democratic Elliot Isibor 18,720 17.4 Increase 0.6
Democratic Joseph Raich 18,379 17.1 Decrease 0.5
Total votes '107,479' '100.0'
Special election, November 6, 2012
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Betty Lou DeCroce 51,485 60.5
Democratic Joseph R. Raich 33,618 39.5
Total votes 85,103 100.0

References

  1. ↑ "Alex DeCroce Obituary (2012) - 75, Parsippany, NJ - the Daily Record". Legacy.com.
  2. ↑ "New legislators take office at noon in historic shift of N.J. Legislature". New Jersey Globe. 2022-01-11. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  3. 1 2 Assemblywoman DeCroce's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed April 15, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Wright, Peggy (January 25, 2012). "BettyLou DeCroce wins 26th District seat held by late husband". Daily Record. Retrieved September 15, 2015. BettyLou DeCroce bested Larry Casha, 120-67, at a special convention Wednesday night, where GOP county committee delegates chose her to fill the state Assembly seat left vacant by her husband's death. ... BettyLou (nee Bisson), who married Alex DeCroce in 1994, had served as a Mine Hill councilwoman when she was in her mid-20s.
  5. ↑ "Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce". New Jersey Assembly Republicans. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  6. ↑ Staff. "N.J. Assemblyman Alex DeCroce collapses, dies in Statehouse after long legislative session", The Star-Ledger, January 10, 2012. Accessed October 10, 2012. "Longtime Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, the leading Republican of the state’s lower house who represented Morris County for 23 years, collapsed and died in a bathroom inside the Statehouse late Monday night, just moments after the 214th Legislature held its final voting session."
  7. ↑ Goldberg, Dan. "BettyLou DeCroce to assume N.J. Assembly seat, succeed husband in 2 weeks", The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2012. Accessed October 10, 2012. "It will be about two weeks before BettyLou DeCroce officially takes her seat in the state Assembly. She was selected Wednesday night by the Republican County Committee to fill the seat left vacant by the death on Jan. 9 of her husband, Alex DeCroce, the Assembly minority leader."
  8. ↑ Rizzo, Salvador (November 7, 2012). "N.J. Assemblywomen secure seats in special election". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Barranco, Webber win GOP nods in district 26". New Jersey Globe. 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
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