Zimmer was born on August 16, 1944, in Newark, New Jersey, to William and Evelyn Zimmer, the second of two children. In his early years he was raised in Hillside, New Jersey. His father, a physician, died of a heart attack when he was 3 years old. After his father's death, his mother moved from Hillside to Bloomfield, New Jersey, where she supported the family by working as a clerk at the Sunshine Biscuits warehouse. They lived in a Bloomfield garden apartment, which Zimmer has referred to as "the New Jersey equivalent of a log cabin."[1][2]
When Zimmer was 12 years old, his mother married Howard Rubin, a Korean War veteran with three children of his own. The newly combined family moved to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and Rubin worked at the post office there. Zimmer attended Glen Ridge High School, where he was selected as the class speaker for his graduation ceremony. His mother, suffering from lymphoma, required paramedics to take her from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to the school auditorium on a stretcher to hear the address. She died several days later.[1]
Zimmer attended Yale University on a full academic scholarship and majored in political science, graduating in 1966. In the summer of 1965, he worked in the Washington, D.C., office of Republican U.S. SenatorClifford P. Case, after which time he became active in Republican politics.
He attended Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
In 1973, he was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group and think tank with the mission to make political institutions more open and accountable. From 1974 to 1977, he served as chairman of New Jersey Common Cause. As chairman he successfully lobbied for New Jersey's Sunshine Law, which made government meetings open to the public. He also championed campaign finance reform, working closely with Thomas Kean, then a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. Zimmer then served as treasurer for Kean's reelection campaign.[2]
New Jersey Legislature
After moving to Delaware Township in Hunterdon County, he was elected to the General Assembly in 1981, serving until 1987. He was the prime Assembly sponsor of New Jersey's first farmland preservation law, resulting in the permanent preservation of 1,222 farms in the state. Zimmer also sponsored the legislation creating the state's radon detection and remediation program, which became a national model. He was chairman of the Assembly State Government Committee from 1986 to 1987.[3]
In 1987, following the death of State Senator Walter E. Foran, Zimmer won a special election to replace him in the New Jersey Senate. He was later elected to a full term.[2] In the Senate he served on the Revenue, Finance and Appropriations Committee.[3]
Zimmer served three terms in the House, winning reelection in 1992 and 1994. As a Congressman, Zimmer is best known[citation needed] for writing Megan's Law (U.S. Public Law 104–145), which requires notification when a convicted sex offender moves into a residential area. It was named after Megan Kanka, a New Jersey resident who was raped and murdered by convicted sex offender Jesse Timmendequas. He also introduced "no-frills" prison legislation, requiring the elimination of luxurious prison conditions.[6]
As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, he sought the elimination of wasteful spending and undue taxation. He was ranked the most fiscally conservative member of the United States Congress three times by the National Taxpayers Union and was designated a Taxpayer Hero by Citizens Against Government Waste every year he was in office.[3]
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.[7] On August 16, 1995, Bradley announced that he would not seek reelection.[8] Zimmer formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 1996, having already secured the endorsement of Governor Christine Todd Whitman and other leading Republicans.[9] In the Republican primary he won with 68 percent of the vote, defeating Passaic CountyFreeholder Richard DuHaime (20 percent) and State SenatorDick LaRossa (12 percent).[10][11]
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).[11]
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).[14]
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.[15]
On September 25, 2020, he endorsed Joe Biden for President.[16]
In February 2021, Zimmer announced he was running for the New Jersey Senate, planning to face off with Papas again in the primary.[17] However, he dropped out later that month.[18]
Zimmer entered the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey on April 11, 2008, after being drafted by New Jersey Republican leaders. Party leaders had originally supported businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook for the Senate nomination until she withdrew in March 2008, following a mini-stroke. Many Estabrook supporters then supported businessman Andy Unanue for the Senate nomination. Unanue received criticism in the race because of his residency in New York City and his spending his entire three-week campaign in Vail, Colorado. Several days after filing his petitions for the Senate race, Unanue dropped out of the race and his committee on vacancies designated Zimmer to enter the race under the Unanue petitions.[19]
In polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports and Strategic Vision in mid-September 2008, Zimmer trailed Lautenberg by 7 points.[20][21] He ultimately lost to Lautenberg by a margin of 56 percent to 43 percent.[22] Despite the loss, Zimmer received nearly 1.4 million votes, setting a record for most votes cast in New Jersey history for a Republican candidate for statewide office.[23]
