Kyrillos started the consulting firm SK partners and is employed with Newport Capital Group,Red Bank,a financial services firm. He is affiliated with Woodmont Properties,a regional real estate development company and is senior managing director of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank,a commercial real estate services firm.[2]
Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr. was born April 12,1960,in Kearny,New Jersey,one of four children of a pediatrician,Dr. Joseph M. Kyrillos,and his wife,Marguerite Kyrillos (née Shlala),who wed on May 11,1958.[5] His father and his mother's parents immigrated to the United States from Lebanon. His maternal grandfather worked as a tool and die maker at Thomas Edison's factory in West Orange. His mother graduated from college at age 50.[6]
After graduating from college,Kyrillos worked for Vice President George Bush during the 1984 Reagan-Bush campaign.[8] Following the campaign,he served as Special Assistant to Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel from 1985 to 1987.[9]
Kyrillos was first elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1987,together with his incumbent running mate Joann H. Smith,with both candidates receiving more than $25,000 each in campaign funding from the $1.1 million spent by the New Jersey Republican State Committee to support candidates statewide.[10][11] In 1989,he won re-election to a second term.[12] After spending two terms in the Assembly,he retired to run for the seat in the New Jersey Senate in 1991.[13]
Tenure
Kyrillos strongly opposed Democratic Governor Jim Florio's tax increases,citing his opposition to "the Florio tax plan" repeatedly in his campaign advertising.[14] He also opposed the Abbott districts.
In 1991,Kyrillos decided to run for the 13th District seat in the New Jersey Senate. He defeated incumbent appointed Senator James T. Phillips 68%-32%.[16][17] In 1993,after redistricting,he won re-election to a second term with 64% of the vote.[18] In 1997,he won re-election to a third term with 63% of the vote.[19]
After redistricting,the 13th district became more competitive. In 2001,he won re-election to a fourth term (two-year term) with 64% of the vote.[20] He won re-election to a fifth term in 2003 against former state assemblyman Bill Flynn 54%-41%.[21] In 2007,he won re-election to a sixth term with 61% of the vote.[22] In 2011,he won re-election to a seventh term,defeating Hazlet Mayor Chris Cullen,60%-37%.[23]
Tenure
When Republicans held the legislative majority in the Statehouse,Kyrillos served as Majority Conference Leader and chaired standing committees on economic development and coastal resources.[2]
Kyrillos was ranking member of the Economic Growth,Judiciary and Legislative Oversight committees.[24]
On October 25,2016,Kyrillos told Observer.com that he would not seek a re-election for the 2017 State Senate elections.[25] He was succeeded by Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon in 2018.
Committee assignments
Senate Natural Resources and Tourism Committee (Chairman)[26]
2001–2004:Chairman,New Jersey Republican State Committee
From 2001 to 2004,Kyrillos served as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee and a member of the Republican National Committee,where he worked to elect Republicans who shared his vision. In that role,he facilitated the logistics and implementation of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and read the delegate count for President George W. Bush's nomination for re-election on the convention floor.[2]
2008 Romney presidential campaign
Kyrillos was the New Jersey Chairman of Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign.[8]
2009 Christie gubernatorial campaign
In 2009,Kyrillos served as chairman of Chris Christie's successful gubernatorial campaign and was a member of the Governor's Transition Committee,serving as the liaison to all transition sub-committees.[28]
In June 2011, Kyrillos filed an exploratory committee for a potential race in either 2012 or 2014.[29][30]
On January 19, 2012, Kyrillos officially decided to run for the U.S. Senate, citing unemployment, housing prices and the national debt as issues he would tackle in the Senate.[31][32] Kyrillos won the Republican nomination on June 5, 2012. He opposed Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez in the November 6th general election, in which he was defeated 58.4% to 40%.
Memberships
Kyrillos has served on the boards of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, National Conference of State Legislatures Foundation, Bayshore Senior Day Center, Count Basie Theatre, Garden State Arts Center Foundation, Monmouth County Historical Association, New Jersey Historical Society, Prevention First, Rainbow Foundation, and the Two River Theatre Company.[9]
Personal life
Kyrillos is married to Susan Doctorian Kyrillos and has two children, Max and Georgia.
Election history
US Senate
United States Senate election in New Jersey, 2012[33]
1 2 "Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr". Joseph Kyrillos profile. State Surge. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
↑ Staff. "STATE GOP COMMITTEE SPENT $1.1 MILLION ON '87 ELECTION BIDS", The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 20, 1988. Accessed June 25, 2012. "The GOP committee spent heavily in the 13th District, doling out $25478 apiece to Assemblywoman Joann Smith (R., Middlesex), who was re-elected, and Assemblyman Joseph Kyrillos (R., Monmouth), who begins his first term."
↑ King, Wayne. "G.O.P. Runs Against Florio, Who's Not Running", The New York Times, September 24, 1991. Accessed June 22, 2012. "Nonetheless, 'the Florio factor' is already established political jargon in New Jersey, an integral part of discussions about races like the one in the 13th Legislative District in Monmouth and Middlesex Counties. Joseph Kyrillos, the Republican Assemblyman who is trying to take away the Senate seat of Jim Phillips, mentions the Governor and 'the Florio tax plan' no fewer than four times in a 60-second radio commercial, and Mr. Phillips not once."
↑ King, Wayne (October 24, 1991). "Florio Urges Democrats To Fight Back". The New York Times. Retrieved July 3, 2015. State Senator James T. Phillips, Democrat of Old Bridge, who is filling out an unexpired term and was not in the Legislature when the taxes were approved last year...
↑ McGarry, Michael. "SHORE SUMMIT AT SEA ON WAY TO FUND PLANS", The Press of Atlantic City, February 19, 1992. Accessed June 25, 2012. "'That's the political question we have to answer,' state Sen. Joseph N. Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Tourism Committee, said later."
↑ Johnson, Glen. "Romney Still in the Political Hunt"[dead link], Associated Press, April 10, 2008. "New Jersey state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, who served as Romney's New Jersey campaign chairman, said he has received four thank-you phone messages from Romney, which is more telling than the buttoned-down persona of the campaign."
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