George Helmy | |
Office: | United States Senator from New Jersey |
Status: | Designate |
Alongside: | Cory Booker |
Termstart: | September 9, 2024 |
Succeeding: | Bob Menendez |
Appointer: | Phil Murphy |
Office1: | Chief of Staff to the Governor of New Jersey |
Termstart1: | February 4, 2019 |
Termend1: | September 30, 2023 |
Predecessor1: | Kathleen Frangione (acting) |
Successor1: | Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti |
Birth Date: | 27 October 1979 |
Birth Place: | Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
Education: | Rutgers University (BA) Harvard University (ALM) |
Party: | Democratic |
George Samir Helmy (born October 27, 1979) is an American politician serving as a board member of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a U.S. senator-designate from New Jersey. He served as New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's chief of staff from 2019 to 2023. On August 16, 2024, Murphy announced Helmy's appointment to the United States Senate seat that Bob Menendez vacated on August 20, 2024.[1]
Helmy was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on October 27, 1979. He attended Glen Ridge High School. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Rutgers University and a master's degree in finance and management from the Harvard Extension School. Helmy is Coptic American.[2] [3]
Helmy worked for UPS as a business operations manager from 2001 to 2013, and as staff assistant and constituent advocate for Senator Frank Lautenberg from 2012 to 2013. He then served as deputy and later state director for Senator Cory Booker before being hired as Governor Phil Murphy's chief of staff in January 2019.[4] He resigned in October of 2021 to join Murphy's reelection campaign[5] before returning to the role 18 days later, after the election.[6] Helmy left the governor's office at the end of September 2023 and was succeeded by NJDOT commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti.[7] After departing the governor's office, he served as executive vice president and chief external affairs and policy officer at RWJBarnabas Health and as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The New Jersey Globe reported on August 13, 2024, that Helmy would be appointed to the United States Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Bob Menendez. He is expected to take office on September 9. He is expected to be a caretaker and is not a candidate in the 2024 United States Senate election in New Jersey. Murphy announced Helmy's appointment on August 16.[1] Murphy announced that Helmy would resign in late November, after the 2024 election is certified, to be replaced by the election's winner, in order to give New Jersey's new senator an advantage in seniority over that of the other newly elected senators, who would not take office until January.[8]