DeForest Soaries
DeForest "Buster" Soaries | |
|---|---|
Soaries in 2017 | |
| 30th Secretary of State of New Jersey | |
| In office January 1999 – January 2002 | |
| Governor | Christine Todd Whitman Donald DiFrancesco |
| Preceded by | Lonna Hooks |
| Succeeded by | Regena Thomas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 20, 1951 |
| Party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Fordham University (BA) Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv) United Theological Seminary (DMin) |
The Reverend DeForest Blake "Buster" Soaries, Jr. (born August 20, 1951) is a Baptist minister, author and public advocate, from Montclair, New Jersey. A member of the Republican Party, He is the former Secretary of State of New Jersey and former chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission. An African-American, he was the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, a position he had held since November 1990 until his retirement from the church in June 2021.