Christopher DePhillips


Christopher P. DePhillips is an American attorney and Republican Party politician who has represented the 40th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018. He replaced David C. Russo, who decided against running for re-election after 28 years in office. DePhillips had previously served as mayor of Wyckoff.

Personal and early life

DePhillips graduated in 1983 from Bergen Catholic High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in government from Georgetown University in 1987 and a juris doctor degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1992. From 1987 to 1989 he worked in Washington, D.C., as an aide to Congresswoman Marge Roukema. A practicing attorney, DePhillips is vice president and general counsel of Porzio Life Sciences. A member of the Wyckoff Township Committee from 2010 to 2013, DePhillips was unanimously chosen by his peers to serve as the township's mayor in 2012. Appointed in June 2012, he served until 2017 as a Commissioner of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, which provides sewage treatment services to 75,000 residents in Bergen County.

New Jersey Assembly

In February 2019, DePhillips introduced a bill that would abolish the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, but it never came to a vote in Committee.
In June 2021, DePhillips was appointed to GOP caucus leadership, being named deputy Republican leader by NJ Assembly Republican leader Jon Bramnick.
In December 2021, DePhillips introduced a bill that would allow vote-by-mail ballots to be counted as they are received, which would change the current policy that requires waiting until election day. In an NJ Assembly GOP press release promoting the bill, Dephillips stated that, "It is incumbent upon officials to fix the problems that lead to conspiracy theories. Earlier counting of mail-in votes will help address some of this year's hang-ups," referencing how, in 2021, New Jersey's gubernatorial race and some legislative races were too close to call on election night.
In March 2022, DePhillips introduced proposed articles of impeachment against New Jersey Secretary of Labor Robert Asaro-Angelo.

Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:
  • Science, Innovation and Technology
  • Transportation and Independent Authorities

    District 40

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 40th District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:

2023

Led by Kristin Corrado running for re-election in the New Jersey Senate, DePhillips and his Republican running mate, newcomer Al Barlas, defeated Democrats Giovanna Irizarry and Jennifer Marrinan in the 2023 New Jersey General Assembly election.

2021

In the 2021 New Jersey General Assembly election, DePhillips, together with Rooney, defeated their Democratic opponents, a team of Waldwick councilwoman Nicole McNamara and former assistant Bergen County prosecutor Genny Allard, to win re-election to his third two-year term in the General Assembly. In Bergen County, DePhillips won with 28.09% of the 60,790 votes cast, in Passaic County with 30.48% of the 66,366 votes cast, in Essex County with 29.14% of the 10,059 votes cast ; and in Morris County with 31.83% of the 15,730 votes cast.
Leading up to the election, the New Jersey State FMBA backed DePhillips in a slate of mixed Republican and Democrat endorsements. The New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police, also in a politically heterogenous round of endorsements, chose to support DePhillips as well.

2019

In the November 2019 election, DePhillips was re-elected to his second two-year term as an assemblyman, defeating the Democratic slate of former Bergen County Freeholder Julie O'Brien and Little Falls councilwoman Maria Martini Cordonnier. In Bergen County, DePhillips won with 27.84% of the 17,046 cast ; In Passaic County with 26.97% of the 36,050 votes cast, in Essex County with 26.71% of the 3,254 votes cast ; and in Morris County with 30.26% of the 7,666 votes cast.
In late October 2019, DePhillips and his running mate, Kevin Rooney, skipped a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters, claiming that the question-selection process was "broken" and "unfair" because an earlier debate sponsored by the Wayne League of Women Voters had allowed, "...a local Democratic candidate to be part of a group that was screening questions and determining what questions would be asked".

2017

In the 2013 general election, the last time all three legislative seats in the 40th District were up for vote simultaneously, the winners were Kevin J. O'Toole in the Senate and Scott Rumana and David C. Russo in the Assembly. By the 2017 primaries all would be gone, with O'Toole resigning in 2017 to become a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Rumana leaving in 2016 to become a judge in New Jersey Superior Court and Russo's announcement that he would not run for another term of office, leaving a vacuum that led to a series of primary challenges. In the June 2017 Republican primary for the two Assembly seats, Rooney and DePhillips withstood a challenge from Joseph Bubba Jr. and the comeback attempt of former State Senator Norman M. Robertson by margins of 2–1; Kristin Corrado won the Senate nomination against former Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano. Since 1973, the 40th District has always leaned Republican, never electing a Democrat through the 2017 general election. However, a poll conducted by Democrats shortly before the election showed the two slates tied at 39%, with 21% of voters undecided. In the November 2017 general election, DePhillips and his running mate, incumbent Kevin J. Rooney, defeated Democratic challengers Christine Ordway and Paul Vagianos to win both Assembly seats from the district for the Republicans.