Valerie Huttle

Biography and early political career Huttle was born in 1956 to Anthony P. and Natalie Vainieri. Her family founded the Vainieri Funeral Home in North Bergen; in addition, her father served on the North Bergen Board of Commissioners and one term in the General Assembly from the 32nd District from 1983 to 1985. Her brother Anthony P. Vainieri, Jr. is currently serving on the Hudson County Board of County Commissioners and is the current Chairperson. She is a state-licensed funeral director and has served as president of the funeral home since 1981. Three years later in 2000, by now a resident of Englewood, she and running mate Jack Alter (who was also the mayor of Fort Lee) defeated Republican incumbent Bergen County Freeholders Richard Mola and J. William Van Dyke. Two years later on January 2, 2003, she was unanimously chosen by her peers to serve the Board as the first ever Chairwoman under its present County Executive form of government. Her colleagues returned her to the Chairperson's seat once again in 2004.

As Freeholder, Huttle sat on the Community Oversight Board at Bergen Regional Medical Center during her first two years of service, providing oversight of the privately managed county hospital. She has also served on the county Board of Social Services and is a member of the Community Action Partnership Board of Trustees for the last four years where she worked for development of a one-stop homeless shelter to better address the needs of that growing population. She was a member of the Board of School Estimate at the Bergen County Technical Schools, a former member of the Board of School Estimate at Bergen Community College and chaired the Freeholder committee for Health and Human Services.

Huttle is a resident of Englewood, where she lives with her husband Frank Huttle III and their two daughters, Alexandra and Francesca. Frank Huttle has served as Mayor of Englewood since January 2010, succeeding Michael Wildes. Huttle and her husband were inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in ceremonies held in September 2000 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, having been recommended for the honor by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Archbishop Edward Egan designated Mrs. Huttle a Dame and Mr. Huttle a Knight of the order.

With Weinberg's court victory, Huttle and Engelwood Mayor Michael Wildes both announced their candidacies for Weinberg's Assembly slot on the November general election ballot and to fill the balance of her term in the Assembly once she took her seat in the Senate. The choice was decided by yet another special convention of the Bergen County Democratic Committee on October 6, 2005, with Huttle out-polling Wildes 121-96 (Huttle would ultimately not serve the remainder of Weinberg's term). Running together with Weinberg and incumbent Assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson, Huttle was elected on Election Day, November 8, 2005, to the Assembly and sworn in as a new member on January 10, 2006, the first day of the 212th Legislative Session.

, Huttle chairs the Assembly Human Services Committee and sits on the Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee and the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation investigating the Fort Lee lane closure scandal. Since 2015, she has served as a Deputy Speaker.

In 2021, Huttle announced she would seek the District 37 Senate seat due to Loretta Weinberg's announcement that she would be retiring at the end of her term, going against fellow Assemblyman Gordon Johnson in the 2021 Democratic Primary Huttle was endorsed by the New Jersey Working Families Party, EMILY's List, however she lacked her local Democratic party's support as they elected to back Johnson to bracket with the Democratic Party on the primary ballot. Due to this, Huttle made changing ballot design and party endorsements part of her campaign, aligning with local progressive groups pushing for this. Huttle lost the primary, being defeated by Johnson 3-1.