Linda R. Greenstein

Greenstein was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn and graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens. She received an A.B. from Vassar College in Psychology in 1971, an M.A. in 1974 from Johns Hopkins University and was awarded a J.D. in 1984 from the Georgetown University Law Center. She was a Clinical Associate Professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law, where she supervised the Disability Law Clinic. She has served as a Deputy Attorney General in Trenton and as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia. She is a resident of Plainsboro Township, and had one son Evan, with her husband Michael Greenstein. Michael Greenstein died on November 1, 2017.

In 2017, her opponent was Hamilton Township Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer. Greenstein defeated Schirmer 56.3% to 43.7%.

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 14th District for the 2016-2017 (217th) Legislative Session are:

In 2014, 12th congressional district Representative Rush D. Holt, Jr. announced his retirement from Congress. Greenstein announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for the seat the same day of Holt's announcement.

In 2013, Greenstein faced former State Senator Peter Inverso, who represented the district from 1992 to 2008. Greenstein was re-elected to a second full term by 1,484 votes, the closest Senate margin in New Jersey that year.

Of the four counties in the district, she only received the county committee endorsement from her home county of Middlesex. After Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman received the Mercer County endorsement on March 22, Greenstein was recorded telling local county Democratic leaders, "I hate everybody in here. Everybody in here is my enemy – except for the people from Hamilton. The rest of you are my enemies." Her campaign responded with a statement saying, "This thinly veiled attempt at intimidation from unnamed party bosses unfortunately reeks of the kind of sexism successful women have had to contend with throughout history." Mercer County Democratic Party chairwoman Elizabeth Maher Muoio refuted this claim, saying "Clearly, the results were not what she had hoped for, but to blame them on sexism or on a closed process is deceptive, untrue and insulting."

In 2011, Greenstein was re-elected over challenger Richard Kanka, father of murder victim Megan Kanka and driver behind Megan's Law.

In the 2010 special Senate election to fill the remainder of Bill Baroni's term, Greenstein ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. She defeated appointed incumbent Senator Tom Goodwin, one of her opponents from the 2009 Assembly race.

In 2008, Greenstein initially attempted to serve as a delegate for the Hillary Clinton campaign, but the Clinton campaign declined to nominate her. Greenstein endorsed Barack Obama's presidential campaign prior to the 2008 Iowa caucus. Greenstein defended Obama from Clinton attacks prior to the June primary and served as an Obama delegate to the national convention in Denver, Colorado.

In the 1999 Assembly election, Republican incumbents Paul Kramer and Barbara Wright were narrowly defeated by Democrats Greenstein and Gary Guear, with the incumbents losing votes in Hamilton Township, where Democrat Glen Gilmore won the race for mayor. The two gains were among the three Republicans seats Democrats picked up in the Assembly in the 1999 elections, though the Republicans retained their majority. She served in the Assembly for five terms from 2000 through 2010. She was the Assembly's Assistant Majority Leader from 2002, and the Deputy Speaker from 2006 to 2010. Greenstein served in the Assembly on the Judiciary Committee (as Chair) and the Health and Senior Services Committee. Greenstein was reelected in 2007 while participating in the New Jersey Clean Elections public funding program. During this campaign, Greenstein faced radio attack ads from a national third-party conservative group with ties to President George W. Bush.

Greenstein served on the Plainsboro Township Committee from 1995 to 2000 and on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District's Board of Education from 1992 to 1994. Prior to her election to the General Assembly, she was a Senior Staff Attorney at the Community Health Law Project and supervised the Public Interest Legal Clinic at Montclair State University.

Linda R. Greenstein (born June 7, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American Democratic Party politician who represents the 14th legislative district in the New Jersey Senate. She is the first woman to hold the Mercer-Middlesex regional State Senate district since Anne Clark Martindell, who filled the seat from 1974 to 1977. She previously served in the General Assembly from 2000 to 2010.