Democratic Governor McGreevey resigned 15 November 2004.

In an emotional press conference at the State House in Trenton, held on the afternoon of 12 August 2004- only days after his 47th Birthday, Governor James E. "Jim" McGreevey (D-New Jersey) announced his resignation from that office effective 15 November 2004, on which date State Senate President Richard James Codey (D-Essex County, NJ) will become "acting Governor" (New Jersey being one of the few States in the Union without a Lieutenant Governor). The reason the Garden State Governor gave for his resignation was his desire to keep his office from being adversely affected by his sexual preference, also publicly acknowledged by the Governor for the first time at this same press conference.

The date of McGreevey's resignation is evidently so timed as to allow for a smooth post-General Election transition (though the New Jersey Governor's office would not normally be up for election until November 2005, there are elections for Members of Congress and, of course, the American Presidential Election this coming 2 November, all with major ramifications for politicians within the Governor's Party) but, at the same time, to take care of a rather arcane bit of New Jersey succession law. Had Governor McGreevey's resignation taken effect prior to this coming 16 September, there would have had to be a Special Election to fill out the remaining year or so of his term (which ends in mid-January 2006); by resigning after that date, State Senator Codey can- once McGreevey's resignation takes effect- serve as "acting Governor" for the remainder of McGreevey's term without an intervening election for that office other than the one regularly scheduled for November 2005.

This will be the second time in only four years that a State Senate President will have become "acting Governor" of New Jersey in the wake of a Gubernatorial resignation. In early 2001, Governor Christie Whitman resigned to become then-newly inaugurated President George W. Bush's first Enviromental Protection Agency head, after which then-State Senate President Donald DiFrancesco (R- Union County, NJ) served almost all the remainder of Whitman's four-year term. The last week of that term was finished up alternately by then-co-State Senate Presidents Codey and John Bennett (R-Monmouth County, NJ) because a newly elected Legislature (with an evenly divided State Senate) took office just before McGreevey was inaugurated as Governor.

Governor McGreevey was elected in 2001.