Presidents Day: New Jersey connections to the highest office in America

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Two of the 47 American presidents have ties to New Jersey, and only one was born in the Garden State. Since the early 1900s, only three people with connections to the state have attempted to become the next American president, all in this century.

Also, it is clear that the first president, George Washington, spent a lot of time in New Jersey while leading troops during the American Revolution.

That is just a brief overview of some of the ties New Jersey has to the White House.

Cleveland was born in New Jersey, but politically connected to New York

Born in 1837, Grover Cleveland was the only president to be born in the Garden State. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he was raised in upstate New York, where he would get involved in Democratic politics. He served as the sheriff of Erie County, mayor of Buffalo and was New York’s governor before being elected the first Democratic president after the Civil War.

Cleveland was also the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms (President Donald Trump is only the second to achieve this).

After his time in office, Cleveland retired to Princeton, where he played the stock market, practiced law and became a trustee of Princeton University. He died at age 71 and is buried at Princeton Cemetery.

Governor Woodrow Wilson ascended, but his legacy later descended

Woodrow Wilson, a Princeton alum, would later become its president. He was governor of New Jersey for only two years before being elected the 28th president. He was also the only president elected to hold a Ph.D.

Despite his connections to New Jersey, you will find the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum in his home state of Virginia.

During his term as governor, he implemented school reforms and signed a primary election law and legislation targeting corruption. The powers of the Board of Public Utility Commissioners were also expanded under Wilson’s term.

But his legacy as president would be scrutinized heavily nearly a century later. Despite receiving a Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards establishing the League of Nations, a predecessor to the United Nations, Wilson was a segregationist.

As the first Southerner to become president since Reconstruction, Wilson segregated the federal government workforce and screened the pro-Ku Klux Klan film The Birth of a Nation at the White House. It was the first movie to be shown at the President’s residence.

In 2020, protests against the police murder of George Floyd prompted a re-examination of Wilson’s legacy. The Princeton University Board of Trustees voted to remove Wilson’s name from the School of Public and International Affairs and what is now known as First College. Monmouth University also removed Wilson’s name from one of its buildings.

Chris Christie was just the latest one

In the more than 100 years since Wilson went to Washington, three New Jerseyans launched campaigns for the White House — all within this century.

Basketball Hall of Famer and former Princeton Tiger Bill Bradley made an unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000. After helping the New York Knicks earn two championships, Bradley served as a U.S. Senator from the Garden State from 1979-1997. Then-Vice President Al Gore ultimately won the Democratic nomination over Bradley before losing to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Former Governor Chris Christie made two attempts at the White House in 2016 and 2024, respectively. President Trump took both the Republican nomination and the White House in those years.

Sen. Cory Booker also took aim at the Democratic nomination in 2020, but he would ultimately drop out, with the nomination going to former Vice President Joe Biden.

New Jersey loves Washington, there’s five of them

Among the more than 560 municipalities in the Garden State, five of them are named after the first president. The multiple “Washingtons” could be reflective of how much time Washington spent in the state during the American revolution, which was significant, according to author Craig Mitchell’s book “George Washington’s New Jersey.”

You can find a Washington Township in Bergen, Burlington, Gloucester, Morris and Warren counties. There is a Washington Borough that is surrounded by Washington Township in Warren County.

New Jersey did have six Washingtons before 2007, when residents in the Mercer County municipality renamed theirs Robbinsville.