Jay Webber


James K. "Jay" Webber is an American lawyer and Republican politician, who has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since January 8, 2008, where he represents the 26th legislative district. Webber served in the Assembly as the Minority Appropriations Officer from 2018 to 2026.
After the 2025 New Jersey General Assembly election, in which Republicans saw five incumbents lose and for the party to shrink to its smallest Assembly delegation since the post-Watergate era, Webber was not given a leadership position by the party caucus, which he claims was related to his efforts to question the nature of the election losses.
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Early life and education

Webber was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. Raised in Clifton, he attended Saint Joseph Regional High School. He received a B.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa and a Second Team All-American in baseball. He served as Budget Staffer and District Director to William J. Martini during his term in United States [House of Representatives|Congress]. After leaving Congressman Martini's office, Webber was a staff member at the Manhattan Institute. Webber earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court justice Peter Verniero.

New Jersey Senate campaign

At age 30 in 2003, Webber ran in the Republican primary against incumbent state senator Robert Martin by running to the right of the senator. Martin defeated Webber by approximately 1,900 votes or 15 percent.

New Jersey Assembly

In 2007, following Martin's retirement from the Senate and incumbent Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio deciding to run for Martin's seat, Webber ran in the Republican primary for Pennacchio's Assembly seat. Incumbent Alex DeCroce took the most votes in the June primary while Webber advanced to the November general election by coming in second defeating Kinnelon councilman Larry Casha. Webber was elected in the general election and has subsequently been re-elected every two years since then.

Committees

Committee assignments for the 2026—2027 Legislative Session are:
  • Appropriations
  • Financial Institutions and Insurance

District 26

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 26th District for the 2026—2027 Legislative Session are:

New Jersey Republican Party chairmanship

On June 11, 2009, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie announced his selection of Webber to succeed Tom Wilson as chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee. State Committee members unanimously supported the selection of Webber in a vote on June 17, 2009. Webber announced that he would be leaving the Chairman's post in January 2011, and was succeeded by Sam Raia.

2018 U.S. House campaign

On February 3, 2018, Webber announced he would officially run for the U.S. House seat representing New Jersey's 11th congressional district, after incumbent Rodney Frelinghuysen announced on January 29 that he would not seek reelection. Webber received the Republican Party nomination in the June 6 primary election, defeating Anthony Ghee and Peter DeNeufville. He was defeated by Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill in the November general election. Sherrill won 56.2% of the vote to Webber's 42.7%, defeating him by 13.5%, a 33 percentage-point shift in the vote share towards the Democrat compared to the last election. It was the largest partisan swing of any district in the 2018 House Elections.

Personal life

He is married to Johanna, with whom he has eight children. He is a resident of Morris Plains. He owns a law firm based in Whippany.