Andrew Meehan: Candidate Profile for LD 37 General Assembly Election

Veteran and Educator Seeks to Address Affordability and Accountability in Trenton

Andrew Meehan, a Republican challenger in New Jersey’s 37th Legislative District (LD 37) General Assembly race, has positioned himself as a community-rooted advocate focused on reversing what he describes as a decline in quality of life across the state. In an exclusive interview with TownSquare, Meehan shared his core values, detailed his policy goals, and outlined his approach to legislative service.

Earlier this year, Meehan secured his place on the November 4, 2025, General Election ballot, advancing from the Republican primary alongside Marco Navarro. The LD 37 General Assembly seats are currently held by Democratic incumbents Shama Haider and Ellen Park. This will be his first time running in a New Jersey election at such a high level.

Background and Core Philosophy

Meehan’s professional life is marked by extensive service as a retired military officer and an educator of over 18 years, currently teaching high school special education mathematics in Englewood Public Schools. He holds a master's degree in education and has over 12 years of non-profit experience with organizations like the Korean-American Association of New Jersey and the League of Wome n Voters of the Northern Valley, where he served as board secretary.

He views his Assembly bid as an extension of this service, attributing many of the state's current woes to poor governance. “New Jersey has a lot of problems, many of which exist because of current leadership: high inflation, skyrocketing property taxes, young people unable to afford to stay, increasing crime linked to economic stress.”  When evaluating any potential bill, Meehan stated he has a singular philosophy centered on resident well-being: “Is it helping the children? Is it helping the elderly people or young people who just got married starting out? Are they able to stay in New Jersey? Those are the things I'll be thinking about.”

Policy Focus: Fiscal Oversight and Property Tax Reform

Meehan's campaign is centrally focused on aggressive budget reform and strict property tax controls to address what he terms "affordability theft."

Combating Pork Barrel Politics: Meehan identifies overspending and “pork barrel politics”—which he defines as giving no-bid contracts to friends—as root causes of the state's high costs. To address this, he champions the creation of a fiscal oversight body similar to Doge on the state level, stating: “Doge would be the agency that would be created for the state of New Jersey to review the budget in great detail. Because it's thousands of pages long.” He asserts this process is essential to cutting waste and restoring fiscal responsibility.

Property Tax Relief: His non-negotiable, top priority is property tax relief, specifically citing the plan proposed by gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli to:

• Cap property taxes for anyone 70 years old or over at a flat rate.

• Implement a five-year phase-in plan for young couples purchasing their first home, where the tax rate starts around one to two percent and increases slowly, saving them thousands of dollars in the initial years.
  

  
  

Education Policy: Accountability, Funding, and Assessment Reform

Given his background as a teacher, Meehan stressed the need for significant changes in the New Jersey public education system, identifying three critical areas of focus:

1. Equity and Special Education Services: His top priority is bridging equity and inclusion for students, specifically advocating to maintain crucial resources like Special Education services for at-risk students, stating, "I will be an advocate for them."
   

2. Public School Funding & Charter Accountability: Meehan believes public schools are the key agent for change and must be fully funded properly. While he supports charter schools for fostering competition, he is highly critical of their current oversight, noting: "a lot of charter schools lack accountability... I have also experience where charter schools were given almost a blank check. So greater accountability for Charter schools is absolutely needed." He insists charters must not be allowed to detract from public school resources.
   

3. Assessment Reform and Curriculum Change: Meehan advocates for curriculum change to reduce the burden of excessive testing on teachers and students. He proposes having only one statewide assessment as a benchmark, and strongly opposes tying this assessment to a teacher’s evaluation, stating, "That is a disgrace that teachers have to go through that, and I disagree with that type of Education."

Andrew Meehan. Source: iVoterGuide

Development, Infrastructure, and Environmental Safety

Meehan views unchecked overdevelopment as the root cause of both traffic congestion and flooding in LD 37 and across the state.

Combating Flooding: Meehan identifies the current flooding crisis in Bergen County as a failure of policy, stating that the issue is complex, impacting multiple towns and the underlying topography. He notes that flooding is exacerbated by overdevelopment destroying green space, which eliminates natural water absorption.

• Solutions: He supports technical fixes like special pavement that absorbs water, but stresses the massive funding required and maintains that fixing flooding and other infrastructure issues must take absolute financial precedence over less time-sensitive or vital projects like the Northern Valley Greenway.

  
  

Infrastructure and Traffic Congestion: The biggest infrastructure issue is traffic congestion on major routes like Route 4 and Route 17, which he links directly to the proliferation of high-rise construction (e.g., Hackensack).

• Solution: He suggests that addressing traffic will require the slow, complex process of applying eminent domain across multiple towns to expand the roadways, a process he would support.

  
  

Affordable Housing Nuance: Meehan argues that current policy fails the public and clarifies the terminology: Affordable Housing involves setting aside a percentage of new units based on income, while Subsidized Housing provides government grants for housing to those below the poverty line. Regardless of the type, he maintains that the current approach “drives up inflation costs, increases crime, and reduces quality of life.”

Ethics and Accountability

Meehan has made ethics and adherence to law a central pillar of his campaign.

Insider Trading and Term Limits: He has taken a strong position against insider trading by elected officials, calling it illegal and unethical. He stated that any official caught should be "forced to step down immediately." He also advocates for term limits to prevent legislators from becoming "corrupt" or thinking they are "Untouchable" after prolonged service.

Welfare and Dignity: Meehan supports social services but advocates for a system that promotes dignity through contribution. He proposes tying free housing or social support to mandatory community service hours. “There is no dignity in receiving a free handout. Year after year... We have to become more creative so that these people they understand that they’re part of our community, and they should be contributing in some way.” Meehan believes that by contributing to the community, no matter how or to what extent, people will both become more intertwined/assimilated into society and earn the right to certain social benefits and programs.

Public Safety, Emergency Services, and Senior Care

Critique of Shared Services: He is strongly opposed to the Bergen County Commissioners' push for "shared services" for emergency response, arguing that downsizing the number of paramedics and ambulances will dangerously increase response times.

Senior Support & Healthcare: Meehan insists seniors should never have to choose between food, rent, and medication. His proposals include:

• Providing a personal safety device like Lifeline as a gift to all elderly citizens so they can immediately call for help if they fall while alone.

• Addressing "soft billing," a system where hospitals and ambulances surprise patients with massive, unexpected bills, stating that a fix to this must be found at the state level.

Campaign Strategy and Legislative Approach

The LD 37 district is a diverse area of Bergen County and historically leans Democratic. Meehan stated that his campaign strategy focuses on efficiency, often campaigning in grocery stores (like the Stop & Shop in Tenafly) to reach residents more effectively than slow door-to-door efforts in the spread-out neighborhoods.

Addressing the reality of working with a Democratic majority in the Assembly, Meehan stated that collaboration on some issues is necessary, but his focus would be on “results,” not “friendship,” because he is opposed to most of the policies of the incumbent Democrat majority, which he believes have “destroyed the quality of life for their average citizen in the state of New Jersey.”

Measure of Success: When asked how he would measure his success, Meehan provided a powerful, clear metric: “I want people to say that New Jersey is Affordable again. That they can live in New Jersey. Raise their family. And be able to enjoy their lives because we restored the quality of life.”