Herbert Clark Hoover Conaway Jr. (born January 30, 1963) is an American politician, physician, and former Air Force officer currently serving as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 3rd congressional district since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1998 to 2025, where he represented the 7th legislative district.
Conaway served in the Assembly as the majority whip from 2014 to 2017, and was the deputy speaker from 2002 to 2005 and again starting in 2022. He won New Jersey's 3rd district in the 2024 U.S. House of Representatives election, where he ran as the Democratic nominee.
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Early life
Conaway was born at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton on January 30, 1963, to Eva Christine Conaway (née Godard), a nurse at the hospital, and Herb Conaway Sr., a history teacher at Bordentown Regional High School. He grew up in Bordentown, attending high school there. Conaway graduated with an Bachelor of Arts in politics from Princeton University in 1985 after completing a 67-page long senior thesis titled "Black Political Strategy." He then received a Doctor of Medicine degree from Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and was awarded a Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law—Newark. He is the only member of the legislature to hold both an M.D. degree and a J.D. degree.
Conaway served in the United States Air Force Medical Corps from 1992 to 1996, reaching the rank of Captain. He served at McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County as general medical officer and as assistant director of the primary care clinic. He continues to practice medicine whilst serving in the legislature. He specializes in internal medicine and currently serves as director of the internal medicine clinic at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton. He formerly worked at Cooper University Hospital and had a practice in Willingboro. Formerly a resident of Delanco Township, he now lives in Moorestown.
New Jersey General Assembly
Conaway was first elected to the General Assembly from the 7th District in 1997 as the top vote getter. The same election saw his running mate and second-place finisher, Jack Conners, be seated then removed due to voting machine issues and replaced in September 1998 by Republican Kenneth William Faulkner. Conners was subsequently elected in a 1998 special election and the two served together from the 7th district from that point until 2011 when Conners resigned. Since late 2011, his Assembly associate from the district was Troy Singleton, until Singleton was elected to the New Jersey Senate. Since 2018, his Assembly associate has been Carol A. Murphy. He served as the Assembly's Deputy Speaker from 2002 to 2005.
Calling the proposed bill a "recipe for disaster" that could result in the spread of disease, Conaway opposed legislation proposed by Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk that would give parents the right to exclude their children from mandatory vaccinations, after hearings held in March 2011 by the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee. In 2019, Conaway supported legislation eliminating religious exemptions from mandatory vaccination requirements for students to be eligible to attend school.
Committee assignments
Committee assignments for the current session are:
Health, Chair
Budget
Military and Veterans' Affairs
District 7
Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 7th District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:
Senator Troy Singleton (D)
Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D)
Assemblywoman Carol A. Murphy (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Conaway first ran for the United States House of Representatives in 2004, challenging Republican incumbent Jim Saxton in New Jersey's 3rd congressional district. Saxton defeated Conaway by approximately 63 percent to 35 percent.
After Democratic incumbent Andy Kim announced that he would run for the U.S. Senate, Conaway entered the 2024 race for the 3rd congressional district. He defeated fellow state assemblymember Carol A. Murphy and three other candidates in the Democratic primary. Conaway then defeated Republican nominee Rajesh Mohan in the November general election, receiving 53.2 percent of the vote to Mohan's 44.6 percent. He took office on January 3, 2025.
2026
Conaway ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for reelection in 2026. Republican Michael McGuire, a former New York City police officer and military veteran, won the Republican primary and advanced to face Conaway in the November general election.
Tenure
In July 2026, Conaway and Republican Representative Greg Murphy, both physicians, introduced the bipartisan Protecting Patients from Automated Denials Act. The bill would require physician review and approval of artificial-intelligence-assisted prior-authorization denials by Medicare Advantage plans and would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to audit insurers' use of artificial intelligence in those decisions. The American Medical Association supported the legislation, saying physician oversight should remain part of Medicare Advantage prior-authorization decisions involving artificial intelligence.
Committee assignments
Conaway initially served on the House Committee on Small Business during the 119th Congress, but resigned from the committee on February 2, 2026. As of 2026, his committee assignments are:
Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation
Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Caucus memberships
Among Conaway's caucus memberships are:
Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Democratic Doctors Caucus
Congressional Freethought Caucus
House Baltic Caucus
Labor Caucus
New Democrat Coalition
Reproductive Freedom Caucus
For Country Caucus