Zimmer, Dick, 1944 August 16-

ZIMMER, Richard, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Newark, N.J., August 16, 1944; B.A., Yale University, 1966; L.L.B., Yale Law School, 1969; practiced law in New York City, 1969-1975, and in New Brunswick, N.J., 1975-1990; chair, New Jersey Common Cause, 1974-1977; member, New Jersey State assembly, 1982-1987; New Jersey State senator, 1987-1991; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Second and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1991-January 3, 1997); was not a candidate in 1996 for reelection to the United States House of Representatives, but was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate; unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 2008.

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 11/04/2008 NJ US Senate Lost 41.95% (-14.08%)</li>
<li> 06/03/2008 NJ US Senate - R Primary Won 45.82% (+5.48%)</li>
<li> 11/07/2000 NJ District 12 Lost 48.51% (-0.22%)</li>
<li> 06/03/2000 NJ District 12 - R Primary Won 62.01% (+24.02%)</li>
<li> 11/05/1996 NJ US Senate Lost 42.57% (-10.11%)</li>
<li> 06/04/1996 NJ US Senate - R Primary Won 68.02% (+48.12%)</li>
<li> 11/08/1994 NJ District 12 Won 68.34% (+37.97%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1992 NJ District 12 Won 63.87% (+33.43%)</li>
<li> 11/06/1990 NJ District 12 Won 64.05% (+33.02%)</li>
<li> 06/05/1990 NJ District 12 - R Primary Won 37.70% (+6.93%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1987 NJ State Senate 23 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 03/24/1987 NJ State Senate 23 - Special Election Won 80.89% (+61.77%)</li>
<li> 11/05/1985 NJ General Assembly 23 Won 43.99% (+1.89%)</li>
<li> 11/08/1983 NJ Assembly District 23 Won 34.63% (+0.30%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1981 NJ General Assembly 23 Won 34.46% (+0.00%)</li>
<li> 06/02/1981 NJ General Assembly 23 - R Primary Won 32.79% (+0.00%)</li>
<li> 11/06/1979 NJ General Assembly 14 Lost 25.98% (-1.70%)</li>
<li> 06/05/1979 NJ General Assembly 14 - R Primary Won 35.70% (+0.00%)</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p><b>ENTERED, DROPPED OUT</b>
<ul>
<li> 06/08/2021 NJ State Senate 16 - R Primary Lost 0.00% (-64.49%)</li>
<li> 06/08/2021 NJ General Assembly 16 - R Primary Lost 0.00% (-50.88%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Richard Alan Zimmer (born August 16, 1944) is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and in the United States House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 1996 and 2008. In March 2010, he was appointed by Governor Chris Christie to head the New Jersey Privatization Task Force.</p>

<p>Zimmer was born on August 16, 1944 in Newark, New Jersey to William and Evelyn Zimmer, the second of two children. In his early years he was raised in Hillside, New Jersey. His father, a physician, died of a heart attack when he was 3 years old. After his father's death, his mother moved from Hillside to Bloomfield, New Jersey, where she supported the family by working as a clerk at the Sunshine Biscuits warehouse. They lived in a Bloomfield garden apartment, which Zimmer has referred to as "the New Jersey equivalent of a log cabin."</p>

<p>When Zimmer was 12 years old, his mother married Howard Rubin, a Korean War veteran with three children of his own. The newly combined family moved to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and Rubin worked at the post office there. Zimmer attended Glen Ridge High School, where he was selected as the class speaker for his graduation ceremony. His mother, suffering from lymphoma, required paramedics to take her from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to the school auditorium on a stretcher to hear the address. She died several days later.</p>

<p>I joined the Republican party because I believed in its traditional principles: free trade, strong international alliances, civil rights, national unity and the view of immigration that Ronald Reagan expressed in his last speech as president: “If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”</p>

<p>In 2016, I ran as a delegate for then-Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and in the general election endorsed the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, stating in September of that year, “Donald Trump is neither a conservative nor a Republican. He does not respect the Constitution and does not have the temperament or character to be president.”</p>

<p>Regrettably, nearly four years of the Trump administration has proved this to be correct.</p>

<p>This year I am endorsing Joe Biden because I do not want to endorse a third-party nominee who does not have a realistic chance of becoming president.</p>