Kim Guadagno

Kimberly Guadagno

Unaffiliated

Prior offices

Monmouth Beach Borough Commissioner

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Monmouth County Sheriff

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New Jersey Secretary of State

Successor: Tahesha Way

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Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey

Successor: Sheila Oliver

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Report an officeholder change

Education

Bachelor's

Ursinus College, 1980

Law

American University, Washington College of Law, 1983

Kimberly Ann Guadagno (born April 13, 1959, in Waterloo, Iowa), a Republican, previously served as New Jersey's first lieutenant governor and 33rd secretary of state. She served in the dual role from January 2010 to January 2018. She was a 2017 Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey, but lost in the general election on November 7, 2017.

Guadagno and Chris Christie teamed up for re-election in 2013 and defeated challengers Barbara Buono and Milly Silva on November 5, 2013.

Guadagno's role as lieutenant governor included overseeing the New Jersey Partnership for Action, the state's economic development strategy. In her capacity as secretary of state, Guadagno was the state's chief election official, and managed New Jersey's $40 billion tourism industry, among other responsibilities.

On July 19, 2021, Kim Guadagno filed paperwork to leave the Republican Party and become an unaffiliated voter.

Biography

Education

• Bachelor's degree, Ursinus College (1980)
• Juris Doctorate degree, American University's Washington College of Law (1983)

Early career

After law school, Guadagno began work as a federal prosecutor with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike Force in Brooklyn, New York. After moving to New Jersey following her marriage in 1991, Guadagno served as deputy chief of the corruption unit for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey from 1990 to 1998, handling such high-profile prosecutions as those against former Essex County Executive Thomas D'Alessio (D) and Somerset County Prosecutor Nicholas Bissell (R). She then became deputy director in the Division of Criminal Justice, where she supervised the prosecution of the creator of the "Melissa" computer worm, David L. Smith, until 2000. In 2001, Guadagno left the public sector to practice law closer to home. She also began teaching law at Rutgers University School of Law - Newark.

Public service

For two years beginning in 2005, she was one of three individuals elected a Borough Commissioners of Monmouth Beach. In 2007, she became the first woman elected as sheriff of Monmouth County, responsible for a staff of over 700 state employees and a $65 million budget.

Honors and awards

Guadago has received two Director's Awards from the United States Department of Justice, a Special Achievement Award from the U.S. Attorney's Office, and honorary doctorates from NJIT and William Patterson University.

Political career

2016 presidential endorsement

✓ Guadagno endorsed Chris Christie for the Republican primary in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

See also: Endorsements for Chris Christie

2016 Presidential Endorsements by Lt. Governors
Lt. Gov.	Candidate	Date	Source
Spencer Cox	Ted Cruz	March 2016	CNN
Tim Griffin	Marco Rubio	February 2016	Arkansas Online
Ralph Northam	Hillary Clinton	October 2015	Richmond Times-Dispatch
Henry McMaster	Donald Trump	January 2016	CNN
Kim Guadagno	Chris Christie	June 2015	NJ.com

Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State (2010-2018)

Guadango served concurrently as the Garden State's lieutenant governor and secretary of state. She was first elected in 2009 as Gov. Chris Christie's running mate.

Creation of lieutenant governor's office

The position of lieutenant governor was created as the result of a constitutional amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution passed by the voters on November 8, 2005. In New Jersey, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on a single ticket in the general election. Following the primary elections, gubernatorial candidates have 30 days to select a running mate. Guadagno was selected by Gov. Chris Christie to be his running mate for the 2009 campaign, the first in the state's history to include voting for a lieutenant governor. Following the election, Christie appointed Guadagno to the position of secretary of state as well, combining the duties of both offices.

June 2017 request for voter rolls

On June 29, 2017, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which had been created by President Donald Trump on May 11, requested information on registered voters from all 50 states dating back to 2006. The states were given until July 14 to respond. Noting her ongoing participation in the 2017 gubernatorial election, Guadagno recused herself from responding to the request, referring the matter to the New Jersey Division of Elections.

Monmouth County Sheriff (2007-2010)

In 2007, Guadagno became the first woman elected as sheriff in Monmouth County history.

Pension controversy

Guadagno reportedly made false statements in September 2008 that enabled a police official to improperly obtain $170,000 from a state pension fund, according to New Jersey Watchdog. Guadagno, Monmouth County Sheriff at the time, had hired Michael W. Donovan Jr., a retired investigator for the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, as her new chief, announcing in a memo to her staff that he would be replacing John Cerrato. Under state law, Donovan should have stopped receiving retirement benefits as a result of his employment and been re-enrolled in the Police and Firemen's Retirement System. However, Guadagno had placed him as Chief Warrant Officer, a position that is exempt from PFRS and the rules/regulations that apply to it. Those statements were deemed false since the position of Chief Warrant Officer had been eliminated by an order signed by Guadagno on Sept. 16, 2008 – the week before Donovan started.

Elections

2017

See also: State executive official elections, 2017

See also: New Jersey gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2017

New Jersey held an election for governor and lieutenant governor on November 7, 2017. Governor Chris Christie (R) was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election. New Jersey elects its governor and lieutenant governor together on a joint ticket.

The general election took place on November 7, 2017. The primary election was held on June 6, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in the primary election was April 3, 2017.

The following candidates ran in the election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey.

New Jersey Gubernatorial and Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Phil Murphy/Sheila Oliver	56.03%	1,203,110
	Republican	Kim Guadagno/Carlos Rendo	41.89%	899,583
	Independent	Gina Genovese/Derel Stroud	0.57%	12,294
	Libertarian	Peter Rohrman/Karese Laguerre	0.49%	10,531
	Green	Seth Kaper-Dale/Lisa Durden	0.47%	10,053
	Constitution	Matt Riccardi	0.32%	6,864
	Independent	Vincent Ross/April Johnson	0.23%	4,980
Total Votes (6385/6385 precincts reporting)				2,147,415
Source: New Jersey Division of Elections

Kim Guadagno defeated Jack Ciattarelli, Hirsh Singh, Joseph Rudy Rullo, and Steve Rogers in the Republican primary.

New Jersey Republican Gubernatorial Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kim Guadagno	46.82%	113,846
Jack Ciattarelli	31.08%	75,556
Hirsh Singh	9.76%	23,728
Joseph Rudy Rullo	6.51%	15,816
Steve Rogers	5.84%	14,187
Total Votes		243,133
Source: New Jersey Division of Elections

Phil Murphy defeated Jim Johnson, John Wisniewski, Ray Lesniak, Bill Brennan, and Mark Zinna in the Democratic primary.

New Jersey Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Phil Murphy	48.42%	243,643
Jim Johnson	21.91%	110,250
John Wisniewski	21.57%	108,532
Ray Lesniak	4.83%	24,318
Bill Brennan	2.24%	11,263
Mark Zinna	1.04%	5,213
Total Votes		503,219
Source: New Jersey Division of Elections

2013

See also: New Jersey gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2013

On December 4, 2012, Gov. Christie's campaign confirmed Guadagno's bid to join Christie on the joint gubernatorial/lieutenant gubernatorial ticket in the 2013 election. The general election took place on November 5, 2013, following a statewide primary on June 4, 2013. Christie and Guadagno won the election, winning 60.5 percent of the vote.

Results

General election

On November 5, 2013, Chris Christie and Kim Guadagno (R) won re-election as Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey. They defeated the Buono/Silva (D), Kaplan/Bell (L), Welzer/Alessandrini (I), Sare/Todd (I), Araujo/Salamanca (I), Schroeder/Moschella (I) and Boss/Thorne (I) ticket(s) in the general election.

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Chris Christie & Kim Guadagno	60.3%	1,278,932
	Democratic	Barbara Buono & Milly Silva	38.2%	809,978
	Libertarian	Kenneth Kaplan & Brenda Bell	0.6%	12,155
	Independent	Steven Welzer & Patricia Alessandrini	0.4%	8,295
	Independent	Diane Sare & Bruce Todd	0.2%	3,360
	Independent	William Araujo & Maria Salamanca	0.2%	3,300
	Independent	Hank Schroeder & Patricia Moschella	0.1%	2,784
	Independent	Jeff Boss & Robert Thorne	0.1%	2,062
Total Votes				2,120,866
Election Results Via: New Jersey Department of State

2009

Guadagno first won election in 2009, running on a ticket with Chris Christie. The pair unseated incumbent governor Jon Corzine.

Governor and Lt. Governor of New Jersey, 2009
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Chris Christie and Kim Guadagno	48.5%	1,174,445
	Democratic	Jon Corzine and Loretta Weinberg Incumbent	44.9%	1,087,731
	Independent	Christopher Daggett and Frank Esposito	5.8%	139,579
	Independent	Kenneth Kaplan and John Paff	0.2%	4,830
	Independent	Gary Steele and Theresa Nevins	0.1%	3,585
	Independent	Jason Cullen and Gloria Leustek	0.1%	2,869
	Independent	David Meiswinkle and Noelani Musicaro	0.1%	2,598
	Independent	Kostas Petris and Kevin Davies	0.1%	2,563
	Independent	Gregory Pason and Costantino Rozzo	0.1%	2,085
	Independent	Gary Stein and Cynthia Stein	0.1%	1,625
	Independent	Joshua Leinsdorf and Ubaldo Figliola	0%	1,021
	Independent	Alvin Lindsay, Jr. and Eugene Harley	0%	753
	(None)	Personal Choice	0%	108
Total Votes				2,423,792

Campaign themes

2017

The following themes were found on Guadagno's campaign website. For a full list of themes, click here.

“	Making NJ More Military and Veteran-Friendly As a proud military mom ad our state’s first lieutenant governor, Kim understands how important our military personnel, our veterans and their families are to New Jersey. We must do more than pay lip service to their service and sacrifice. As governor, Kim will work to: Promote opportunity for veterans Lower veteran homelessness and suicide rates Strengthen military economy Fix Pension and Health Benefits The pension crisis has become a ticking time bomb and threatens to force draconian spending cuts, massive tax hikes or collapse the retirement system if New Jersey ignores the problem. At the same time, Kim understands that we won’t solve the problem by shouting, passing blame and calling people names because at the end of the day, it is in everyone’s interest to fix it. This problem will only be resolved by all sides sitting down at the negotiating table and hammering out a solution. Kim believes that the recent Pension and Health Benefit Study Commission set forth sound principles and ideas for tackling New Jersey’s pension crisis that should serve as the starting point for negotiating a solution. As governor, she will lead good faith negotiations with stakeholders to secure the pension system and strike the best possible deal for all sides. Solutions may include: Honoring pension commitment to current retirees Bringing public health insurance plans in line with private sector offerings Ending all pension abuse like imposing strict ‘1 public paycheck’ rule to stop double dipping Cutting Wall Street management fees Transferring the management of the Police and Firemen’s pension system to a risk-bearing entity Moving more public employees into cash balance plans Cut Property Taxes Now New Jersey's highest-in-the-nation property taxes are the leading reason so many of our neighbors and friends are choosing to leave our state and move to places like Pennsylvania, Texas and North Carolina. Young families are turned off from buying homes and businesses have a hard time attracting the top talent to work in New Jersey because it is simply too expensive to live, raise a family and enjoy a high quality of life here. New Jersey’s antiquated school funding formula compounds the problem, essentially forcing middle-class families to subsidize the education system for millionaires in Hoboken and Jersey City through higher property taxes. Kim understands that the middle class can’t wait for the political class in Trenton to come up with a solution. To create a better New Jersey, we need to do something now to make it more affordable for middle-class families to live and thrive here. While other candidates talk about lowering property taxes, Kim is the only candidate with a plan to deliver immediate property tax relief to hardworking families while addressing the long-term drivers of high property taxes: reforming the antiquated school funding formula.	”
—Kim Guadagno

Phil Murphy and Kim Guadagno on New Jersey's economy
October 30, 2017: New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Kim Guadagno (R) claimed, "There are more people working here on average than ever in the history of the state of New Jersey." Candidate Phil Murphy (D) claimed that "the labor market participation is at a 10-year low," and that New Jersey has fewer small businesses than when Guadagno and Gov. Christie took office.
Are the candidates’ competing claims about the economy accurate? Read Ballotpedia's fact check »

Campaign contributions

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. See the table below for more information about the campaign donors who supported Kim Guadagno. Click [show] for more information.

Kim Guadagno Campaign Contributions
	2009 Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey
Total raised	$5,858,326
Total raised by opponents	$30,594,770 (Dem)
Top 5 contributors	Susan R Markham	$10,200
	Domenic M Dipiero III	$7,050
	New Jersey State Troopers Fraternal Association	$6,800
	Election Fund of Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini	$6,800
	David W Mauro	$6,800
Individuals	$4,955,499
Institutions	$689,751
In-state donations	$4,908,395
Out-of-state donations	$905,161

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Guadagno resides in Monmouth County with her husband Michael Guadagno, a judge on the Vicinage 9 Superior Court. They have three children.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Kim + Guadagno + New + Jersey + Lieutenant + Governor"

Kim Guadagno News Feed

See also

• Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey
• New Jersey Secretary of State
• Governor of New Jersey
• Chris Christie

Contact information

Capitol Address:
Office of the Secretary
PO Box 300
Trenton, NJ 08625-0300

Phone: (609) 984-1900
Fax: (609) 292-7665
Email: feedback@sos.state.nj.us

External links

Suggest a link

• Official New Jersey Secretary of State website
• Project Vote Smart - Kim Guadagno biography
• Kim Guadagno for Governor
• Kim Guadagno for Governor - Facebook
• Kim Guadagno for Governor - Twitter
• Kim Guadagno for Governor - Youtube

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Nina Mitchell Wells (D)	New Jersey Secretary of State 2010-2018	Succeeded by Sheila Oliver (D)