Richard Alan Zimmer (August 16, 1944 – December 31, 2025) was 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.

Zimmer was known for his sponsorship of Megan's Law, a landmark criminal justice reform bill passed in response to the 1994 murder of Megan Kanka. He was known for his fiscal conservatism, opposing spending and taxes which he viewed as excessive and supporting the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.

Background

Richard Alan 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 called "the New Jersey equivalent of a log cabin." He went on to attend Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. From 1997 to 2000, Zimmer lectured at Princeton University in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 2001, he joined the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he was of counsel.

Early political involvement

In 1973, he was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group and think tank with the mission to make political institutions more open and accountable. From 1974 to 1977, he served as chairman of New Jersey Common Cause. As chairman he successfully lobbied for New Jersey's Sunshine Law, which made government meetings open to the public. He also championed campaign finance reform, working closely with Thomas Kean, then a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. Zimmer served as treasurer for Kean's 1975 reelection campaign.

New Jersey Senate (198791)

In 1987, following the death of state senator Walter E. Foran, Zimmer won a special election to replace him in the New Jersey Senate. He was elected to a full term in November unopposed.

As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, he sought the elimination of wasteful spending and undue taxation. He was ranked the most fiscally conservative member of the United States Congress three times by the National Taxpayers Union and was designated a Taxpayer Hero by Citizens Against Government Waste every year he was in office.

On August 16, 1995, Bradley announced that he would not seek reelection. Zimmer formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 1996, having already secured the endorsement of Whitman and other leading Republicans. He won the Republican primary with 68 percent of the vote over Passaic County freeholder Richard DuHaime and state senator Dick LaRossa.

In the general election, Zimmer faced Democratic representative Robert Torricelli. David Wald of The Star-Ledger called the 1996 campaign "noisy, vitriolic, and expensive," estimating its cost at over $25 million, which was very expensive for the time. Both candidates were harshly critical, with Zimmer calling Torricelli "foolishly liberal" and Torricelli tying Zimmer to House speaker Newt Gingrich. Zimmer's authorship of Megan's Law was also an issue in the campaign, as was gun control, with Torricelli winning a valuable endorsement from former Ronald Reagan aide and shooting victim James Brady.

2008 U.S. Senate campaign

In 2008, New Jersey Republicans struggled to recruit a candidate to challenge incumbent Frank Lautenberg. Their first choice, real estate developer Anne Evans Estabrook, withdrew after suffering a stroke, and their second choice, businessman Andy Unanue, withdrew shortly after entering the race following criticism of his New York City residence and spending his entire three-week campaign on vacation in Vail, Colorado. On April 11, 2008, Zimmer entered the race for the Republican nomination after other choices, including Mehmet Oz and Kip Bateman, declined. He was designated by the Unanue campaign to receive their ballot positions and after a short campaign, Zimmer won the Republican nomination with 46 percent of the vote over state senator Joseph Pennacchio. However, Lautenberg outraised Zimmer by nearly $6 million and October polling showed Lautenberg with an insurmountable lead. Lautenberg declined to debate Zimmer until the last days of the campaign, when his victory appeared certain. Zimmer ultimately lost by nearly 500,000 votes, with the Lautenberg campaign buoyed by the strong performance of presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Later political involvement

On March 11, 2010, Chris Christie appointed Zimmer chairman of the New Jersey Privatization Task Force, charged with developing plans to privatize certain state government operations as a cost-cutting measure.

Zimmer was a consistent opponent and critic of President Donald Trump. He endorsed John Kasich for the Republican nomination in 2016 and unsuccessfully ran to support Kasich as a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention. He endorsed Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, in the general election. In 2020, Zimmer endorsed Joe Biden against Trump in the presidential election.

In February 2021, Zimmer announced he was running for the New Jersey Senate in the 16th district, planning to face off with Mike Pappas again in the primary. However, he dropped out later that month. His endorsement of Biden in 2020 was cited as making his candidacy nonviable among Republicans.

Personal life and death

Zimmer and his wife Marfy Goodspeed, whom he married in 1965, were longtime residents of Delaware Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

See also

  • List of Jewish members of the United States Congress

References

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Links formerly displayed via the CongLinks template:

  • Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
  • Appearances on C-SPAN programs
  • Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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  • Biographical information for Dick Zimmer from The Political Graveyard
  • Biography on Senate campaign website (archived)

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