John A. Waddington (May 10, 1911 – June 4, 1981) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as Majority Leader of the New Jersey State Senate.
He was a teacher at Salem High School, and later worked as a personnel director for the du Pont Corporation of Delaware As a Quaker, Waddington claimed a religious exemption during World War II.
After the war, he did relief and rehabilitation work in Italy with the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers).
He had to run again in 1965 after the U.S. Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. Sims (more commonly known as One Man, One Vote), required redistricting by state legislatures for congressional districts to keep represented populations equal, as well as requiring both houses of state legislatures to have districts drawn that contained roughly equal populations, and to perform redistricting when needed.
Cumberland County was represented by Senator Robert H. Weber, a Democrat from Greenwich Township.
Another Quaker who attended the Salem Friends Meeting with John Waddington, threw his hat in the ring in the Democratic Primary.
He was one of five candidates to be interviewed by a special committee of ten Democratic County Chairmen formed by Democratic State Chairman Salvatore Bontempo in an effort to unite the party establishment behind a single challenger to Republican Governor William T. Cahill.