While Republicans won all twelve Essex County seats that year, Ronco lost narrowly, just 2,600 votes behind the Republican who finished twelfth; he was the second highest vote-getter among the Democratic candidates.
[3] He ran again in 1957, and with Governor Robert B. Meyner at the top of the ticket, Ronco won election as an Assemblyman.
Ronco served as the deputy director of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, as the Director of the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and as an Assistant Essex County Prosecutor.
He later served as Director of the Office of Casino Policy in the administration of Governor Brendan T. Byrne.
[5] In 1978, Byrne appointed Ronco to serve as a Superior Court Judge.