New Jersey's 12th Legislative District is one of 40 in the state, covering the Burlington County municipalities of Chesterfield Township, New Hanover Township, North Hanover Township and Wrightstown Borough; the Middlesex County municipality of Old Bridge Township; the Monmouth County municipalities of Allentown Borough, Englishtown Borough, Manalapan Township, Matawan Borough, Millstone Township, Roosevelt Borough and Upper Freehold Township; and the Ocean County municipalities of Jackson Township and Plumsted Township as of the 2011 apportionment. Demographic characteristics As of the 2020 United States census, the district had a population of 230,971, of whom 182,139 (78.9%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 167,675 (72.6%) White, 15,755 (6.8%) African American, 625 (0.3%) Native American, 19,231 (8.3%) Asian, 105 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 9,349 (4.0%) from some other race, and 18,231 (7.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 27,497 (11.9%) of the population. The district had 167,202 registered voters as of December 1, 2021, of whom 67,442 (40.3%) were registered as unaffiliated, 51,274 (30.7%) were registered as Republicans, 46,354 (27.7%) were registered as Democrats, and 2,132 (1.3%) were registered to other parties. Political representation For the 2022–2023 session, the district is represented in the State Senate by Samuel D. Thompson (D, Old Bridge Township) and in the General Assembly by Robert D. Clifton (R, Matawan) and Alex Sauickie (R, Jackson Township). Sauickie was appointed to the vacant seat previously held by Ronald S. Dancer (R, Plumsted Township), who had served the district from the start of the session until his death on July 23, 2022. Thompson served as a Republican until switching his party affiliation to Democratic on February 13, 2023. The legislative district overlaps with New Jersey's 3rd, 4th, 6th and 12th congressional districts. 1965–1973 In the interim period between the 1964 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims which required the creation of state legislature districts to be made as equal in population as possible and the 1973 creation of the 40-district map, the 12th District consisted of all of Hudson County. Senators were elected at-large in the 12th District; three members of the Senate were elected in the 1965 and 1971 elections for a two-year term and four Senators were elected for the four-year term elected in the 1967 elections. From 1967 until 1971, the 12th Senate District was split into four Assembly districts with each district electing two members. For the