Annette Quijano

Who is Annette Quijano?

Annette Quijano is an American Democratic Party politician, who was selected by Union County Democrats to fill a vacancy to represent the 20th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly and has since been re-elected twice to her Assembly seat. Quijano succeeds Neil M. Cohen, who resigned on July 28, 2008 amid allegations of child pornography on an official computer.

In the General Assembly, Quijano serves as Chair of the Homeland Security and State Preparedness, as Vice-Chair on the Judiciary Committee and on the Housing and Local Government Committee.

Quijano is a native of New Jersey, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents. Currently a resident of Elizabeth, she is the first woman and first minority to represent the 20th District. Quijano was selected by a convention of Union County Democrats over Patricia Perkins-Auguste by a vote of 87-82. She was sworn in on September 25, 2008.

Quijano graduated from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Management and earned her Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law—Newark. She served clerkships at New Jersey Superior Court in Newark, and in Trenton at both the Office of the Governor's Counsel and the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate in Trenton. She has bar admissions in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.