• Bresci, Gaetano  (18?? - 1900?) - Assassinated King Umberto I of Italy on July 29, 1900; lived in Paterson
• Dickerson, Philemon* (1788 - 1862) - Governor of New Jersey 1839-1841, Judge, U.S. District Court 1841-1862
• Griggs, John William (1847 - 1927) - Governor of New Jersey 1896-1898, U.S. Attorney General 1898-1901
• Hobart, Garret A.* (1844 - 1899) - Vice-President of the United States, 1897-1899
• Hughes, William* (1872 - 1918) - U.S. Congressman 1903 -1904, 1906-1912, U.S. Senator 1913-1918
• Joelson, Charles S.* (1916 - 1999) - U.S. Congressman 1961-1969, Judge New Jersey Superior Court 1969
• Kahn, Alfred E. (1917 -  ) - Economist and author; served in President Carter's anti-inflation program
• Lautenberg, Frank* (1924 -  ) - U.S. Senator 1982-2001
• Moskow, Michael E. (1938 -  ) - Economist and author; served as President Nixon's Assistant Secretary of Labor
• Pascrell, William J., Jr.*(1937 -   ) - Mayor of Paterson, 1990-1996, U.S. Congressman, 1996- present 
• Simon, William E. (1927 - 2000) - Author; served as President Nixon's Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
• Stewart, James Fleming*(1852 - 1904) - U.S. Congressman 1895 - 1903
• Torricelli, Robert Guy*(1951 -  ) - U.S. Congressman 1982-1996, U.S. Senator 1997- present

More information about the politicians with an asterisk after their names can be found at the Biographical Directory of the American Congress at http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp.