[13] In December 2021, DePhillips introduced a bill that would allow vote-by-mail ballots to be counted as they are received, which would change the current policy that requires waiting until election day.
In an NJ Assembly GOP press release promoting the bill, Dephillips stated that, "It is incumbent upon officials to fix the problems that lead to conspiracy theories.
[26] Leading up to the election, the New Jersey State FMBA (a union representing career firefighters, EMTs, and dispatchers) backed DePhillips in a slate of mixed Republican and Democrat endorsements.
[34] In late October 2019, DePhillips and his running mate, Kevin Rooney, skipped a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters, claiming that the question-selection process was "broken" and "unfair" because an earlier debate sponsored by the Wayne League of Women Voters had allowed, "...a local Democratic candidate to be part of a group that was screening questions and determining what questions would be asked".
[35] In the 2013 general election, the last time all three legislative seats in the 40th District were up for vote simultaneously, the winners were Kevin J. O'Toole in the Senate and Scott Rumana and David C. Russo in the Assembly.
[39] In the November 2017 general election, DePhillips (with 30,610 votes; 26.3% of all ballots cast) and his running mate, incumbent Kevin J. Rooney (with 31,170; 26.8%), defeated Democratic challengers Christine Ordway (27,092; 23.3%) and Paul Vagianos (26,737; 23.0%) to win both Assembly seats from the district for the Republicans.