INFORMATION FOR
Benjie E. Wimberly is represents Legislative District 35 in the New Jersey State Senate. Wimberly. Elected through a special convention in January 2025, Senator Wimberly is the first African American to serve in the New Jersey Senate from Passaic County. He serves on the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Previously, he served for six terms in the New Jersey Assembly, also representing the 35th District. During his tenure in the Assembly, he served as Speaker Pro Tempore from 2022 to 2025, and as Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2021. He served as vice chair of the Budget Committee, with additional committee leadership and memberships including Housing, Transportation, the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, and the New Jersey State Employment and Training Commission.
Born and raised in Paterson, Senator Wimberly has served as director of recreation for the City of Paterson since 1998. Prior, he was a special education teacher and coach at Eastside High School. As head baseball coach at Eastside High School, he led the team to the Passaic County championship and Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League title in 1993. Two of his players signed Major League Baseball contracts: Carlton McKenzie (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Danny Singletary (Arizona Diamondbacks).
He also served as head football coach at Paterson Catholic from 1995-2009, where his teams won seven state championships and eight league titles, and he coached numerous players who joined the collegiate ranks and three NFL players: Victor Cruz (New York Giants), TJ Clemmings (Minnesota Vikings), and Al-Quadin Muhammad (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). As head football coach at Hackensack High School from 2012 to 2020, he won three league championships.
Senator Wimberly’s athletic awards include the 2012 Amateur Football Award from the Passaic County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame; the 2020 New York Giants Lou Rettino Coach of the Year Award; and the 2022 Change Maker Award presented by the New York Jet. In 2024 he was inducted into the NJSIAA/NJCA Coaches Hall of Fame, and he has been inducted into the Passaic County Technical Institute-Vocational School Hall of Fame and the Paterson Old Timers Hall of Fame.
In 2024, Senator Wimberly founded the Paterson Recreation Girls Flag Football League. In addition, he serves as president of the New Jersey Minority Coaches Association, which fosters a more active role in recruitment of minority coaches.
A life member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., he is a member of the Rev. Frank Napier, Jr. Scholarship Committee, and serves on numerous boards and commissions. Senator Wimberly has been recognized with more than 450 awards, citations, proclamations, and resolutions., including the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by President Barack Obama in 2017.
Senator Wimberly is a 1989 graduate of Virginia State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He holds a certificate as a teacher of students with disabilities from William Paterson University.
