Exclusive: Joe Kyrillos Declines to Seek Re-Election

There will be tears overflowing the banks of the Navesink River tomorrow when long-serving State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) announces he will not be running for re-election. As PolitickerNJ first speculated in August, Senator Kyrillos is hanging up the legislator spikes he’s worn for 28 years.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve the people of my district and the state of New Jersey in the Legislature,” Kyrillos told the Observer. “Ever since I was a kid growing up in Monmouth County, I’ve always believed that public service is an important and noble profession. I am truly fortunate to have had the ability to serve for so many years in the state Senate, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished on behalf of the people of New Jersey.”

Kyrillos was elected to the General Assembly when he was 27 years old, making him the second youngest person elected since the 1947 Constitutional Convention. He served two terms in the Assembly and moved to the Senate in 1992, where he was re-elected eight times. He has focused on job creation, economic growth, and shore protection. While never adopting the strident tone of today’s national Republicans, the congenial Kyrillos has notched a solid fiscal conservative record, having voted more than 140 times to reduce taxes and fees.

Read the full Observer article here.