David C. Russo

American politician

David C. Russo (born October 8, 1953) is an American attorney and Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 40th legislative district from 1990 to 2017.

Russo was born in Jersey City. He graduated with a B. A. from the College of William and Mary in history in 1975 and received a J. D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1978. Having been admitted to the bar in 1979, he is a partner at the Teaneck law firm of Russo and Russo. He resides in Ridgewood with wife Rosemarie (née Adamiak) with whom he has two children.

Russo began his elected career in 1989 when he defeated long time assemblyman Walter Kern in the June Republican primary, though Kern had been disbarred after a scandal was exposed. He had since been easily re elected every two years to the Assembly. as of 2017, he was the longest serving current member of the General Assembly, though not the earliest serving member (Ralph R. Caputo served non consecutive terms in the Assembly in the 1960s and 1970s). He served in the Assembly on the Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee. Running primarily against 39th District Senator Gerald Cardinale of Demarest, who was endorsed by Roukema, and 24th District Assemblyman Scott Garrett of Wantage Township, who had made two unsuccessful attempts to unseat Roukema in the previous two primaries, Russo finished with 26% of the vote. While this was enough to defeat Senator Cardinale, who polled 25%, it was twenty points short of Assemblyman Garrett's total and left Russo in second place; Garrett would win election to the seat and be elected to six additional terms before being defeated in the 2016 election. After 28 years in office, Russo chose not to run for re election in 2017 and was succeeded by fellow Republican Christopher DePhillips.