Meet TEAM MONMOUTH
Learn more about Dr. Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, Esq.
Dr. Margie Donlon
Dr. Margie Donlon was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly in 2023 as the first female physician in the legislature. She has focused on both affordability for our residents by sponsoring legislation necessary to implement the new Stay NJ property tax relief program. She also has
championed the economic development of Monmouth County by passing legislation to encourage film production in the State and removing barriers to those seeking liquor licenses at Fort Monmouth. Dr. Donlon has sponsored several pieces of legislation to improve medication costs and protect women’s reproductive health.
She is a board-certified practicing physician, specializing in caring for patients with injuries and disabilities. She holds a Masters in Public Health with a focus on Health Policy from Yale University, a Medical Degree from the University of Rochester, and a bachelor’s from Middlebury College. She completed her residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Kessler Institute through the residency program at Rutgers (formerly UMDNJ) and received her certification from the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Donlon is passionate about improving the quality of life for her patients and advocating for their needs. Currently, Dr. Donlon is the only Democratic physician sitting on the Assembly Health committee.
Previously, Dr. Donlon served as the Deputy Mayor of Ocean Township, where she sat on the town council from 2019 through 2023. In Ocean, she acted as the Liaison to the Environmental Commission, Shade Tree Commission, and the Green Team; and has worked in alliance with the Deal Lake Commission and Deal Lake Watershed Alliance on important local environmental issues. Dr. Donlon also served as a member of the LD 11 Economic Recovery Advisory Council in 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic, and was selected for Governor Murphy’s Healthcare Transition Advisory Committee in 2017. In 2018, she was invited to attend the U.S. Army War College National Security Seminar, where she discussed significant national security issues with future and current leaders of the U.S. armed forces.
Dr. Donlon is committed to promoting healthcare education, serving on the Board of the Surfers Medical Association, and presenting research at numerous medical conferences, including the American Geriatrics Society, Association of Academic Physiatrists, and Surfing Medical International.
An avid surfer, she is an active volunteer with the Surfers Environmental Alliance and the Best Day Foundation, teaching adaptive surfing to kids with disabilities. She also serves on the board of Surfing for Vision, an organization giving free surf lessons to visually impaired adults and children. Dr. Donlon resides in Ocean Township with her husband, Ron, and her two daughters, Amalia and Vera.
Luanne Peterpaul, Esq.
Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul took her first steps on the boardwalk in Long Branch, the same district she proudly represents today in the New Jersey General Assembly. Raised in a tight-knit family, she learned early on that true community means showing up for one another, especially when it is hard. That early sense of belonging laid the foundation for a path of service defined by the belief that everyone deserves to feel free, safe, seen, and at home in their community.
Peterpaul was elected to the Assembly in 2023, becoming the first openly gay woman in New Jersey’s state legislature. She serves on the Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee, the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, and the Aging and Human Services Committee. Her career in public service spans decades including as an assistant county prosecutor, a municipal court judge, and now a legislator and practicing attorney. In every role, she has brought her fierce sense of fairness, compassion, and commitment to justice. Her call to service deepened when her nephew was diagnosed with a rare illness. In the hospital room surrounded by family she saw firsthand the power of presence, and the pain of absence for children facing treatment alone. That moment inspired her to live more fully, embrace her identity, and fight for those without the same support system. It also deepened her understanding of what communities must do to care for their most vulnerable members.
Peterpaul’s legislative priorities reflect her values: affordability, safety, equity, and care for every resident. Guided by both professional experience and personal conviction, she brings those values into every conversation whether she’s at a community event, visiting a local business, or sitting around a kitchen table. She knows how to turn real conversations into strong results. Her proposal to deliver property tax relief for first responders was shaped by local stories about the value of emergency volunteers and the barriers they face. She’s applied that same philosophy to efforts that lower prescription drug costs, expand newborn health insurance enrollment, improve pretrial procedures in firearm-related offenses, and strengthen the volunteer emergency workforce. She also secured over $18 million in preservation grants through the state’s constitutionally dedicated Corporate Business Tax and created a historic distillery license to help small businesses grow.
As the former Chair of Garden State Equality, she played a leading role in the passage of New Jersey’s landmark anti-bullying law and helped advance marriage equality in the state. Her decades-long advocacy has centered on dignity, justice, and belonging with a deep commitment to youth and others too often left behind. Peterpaul is a former member of the Advisory Committee for the Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, and she continues to serve on the board of the Thomas Peterpaul Foundation and as a Board Member for the RWJBarnabas, Health, Monmouth Medical Center, where she advocates for policies that protect and uplift children and families.
She lives in Long Branch with her wife, Robin, their dog, and two beloved rescue cats. Rooted in the community where her journey began, she’s working to build a New Jersey where everyone feels supported, represented, able to afford a good life, and safe to take their own first steps.
