Joseph Cryan

Cryan was the Majority Leader of the New Jersey General Assembly, serving from January 12, 2010, until January 10, 2012. Cryan served as the Assembly's Deputy Majority Leader 2006–2010, and was Assistant Majority Leader from 2004 to 2005. He served on the Human Services Committee and the Law and Public Safety Committee.^[2]

Cryan ran for New Jersey Senate in 2017, and won. Cryan was sworn in on January 9, 2018.

Assemblymember Jamel Holley announced in January 2021 that he would challenge Cryan in the June 2021 primaries.^[3] Jason Krychiw also ran against Cryan in the primary.

Cryan was born on September 1, 1961, in East Orange and raised Roman Catholic.^[1] His father, John F. Cryan, an immigrant from County Roscommon, Ireland, was elected to the General Assembly and served as Sheriff of Essex County.^[7]

Cryan's father had been charged in Federal court with racketeering and corruption, though the judge in the case dismissed the charges due to prosecutorial mistakes and ended the proceedings against him.^[8]

The lawmaker's son, also named John Cryan, was convicted of brutally beating a motorist with a baseball bat while two accomplices punched and kicked the victim, after a case of road rage that occurred when his father was in the General Assembly. The younger Cryan was ordered by the court only to probation but he was later jailed for violating the terms of his sentence.^[9]

Other relatives involved in public life are his cousin, Morristown Councilman John Cryan,^[10] his sister, Union Township Municipal Clerk Eileen Birch, his cousin, Cranford, New Jersey township administrator Jamie Cryan,^[11] his brother-in-law Superior Court judge Joseph Donohue.^[12]

The New York Post reported that Cryan "graphically spelled out his kinky proclivities in more than 150 e-mails that he sent to" a former lobbyist for Prudential Financial who pleaded guilty to stalking his girlfriend in exchange for being allowed to participate in a pre-trial intervention program.^[13] "The e-mails were written when the pol presumably would have been at one of his government jobs — either his $49,000-a-year Assembly gig or his $111,000-a-year post as Union County undersheriff," the Post said.

Cryan graduated with a B.A. from Belmont Abbey College in Business Administration^[2] in 1983.^[1] Cryan was born in East Orange, and currently resides in Union Township.^[1]

Cryan has served on the New Jersey State Democratic Committee since 2002, as Vice Chair. On February 17, 2006, Cryan was selected to be the head of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, succeeding Bonnie Watson Coleman. He stepped down after the selection of his successor John S. Wisniewski on January 27, 2010.^[14] As Democratic state chairman, in November 2009, Assemblyman Cryan presided over a Democratic gubernatorial party loss by incumbent Jon Corzine to Republican Chris Christie.^[15] He was replaced as state chairman in January 2010 by Assemblyman John Wisniewski.