on Science, Space and Technology and the Committee on Government Operations. As a member of the Environment Subcommittee, he introduced environmental risk-assessment legislation later incorporated in the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. 1996 U.S. Senate campaign In 1995, Zimmer lined up support to run in the following year's United States Senate elections, becoming the front-runner among Republicans seeking to face Democratic incumbent Bill Bradley. On August 16, 1995, Bradley announced that he would not seek reelection. Zimmer formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 1996, having already secured the endorsement of Governor Christine Todd Whitman and other leading Republicans. In the Republican primary he won with 68 percent of the vote, defeating Passaic County Freeholder Richard DuHaime (20 percent) and State Senator Dick LaRossa (12 percent). After a bitter and expensive campaign that focused partly on Zimmer's authorship of the federal version of Megan's Law, Zimmer lost to Democratic Congressman Robert Torricelli by a vote of 1,519,328 (53 percent) to 1,227,817 (43 percent). Career after Congress Zimmer gave up his House seat to run for the Senate, completing his third term in office on January 3, 1997. After leaving Congress, he worked at the Princeton office of the Philadelphia-based law firm Dechert Price & Rhoads. In 2001 he joined the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he is of counsel. From 1997 to 2000 Zimmer also taught as a lecturer in Public and International Affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. In 2000, Zimmer again ran for the 12th District House seat. In the Republican primary he defeated Michael J. Pappas, who had held the seat from 1997 to 1999, by a margin of 62 to 38 percent. He faced the incumbent, Democrat Rush D. Holt, Jr., in the general election. The results were too close to call on election night, and after a recount Zimmer ultimately lost by only 651 votes (146,162 to 145,511 votes, or 48.7 to 48.5 percent). On March 11, 2010, Zimmer was appointed by Governor Chris Christie to be the chairman of the New Jersey Privatization Task Force, charged with developing plans to privatize certain state government operations as a cost-cutting measure. On September 25, 2020, he endorsed Joe Biden for President. In February 2021, Zimmer announced he was running for the New Jersey Senate. However, he dropped out later that month. Zimmer and his wife Marfy Goodspeed are