He entered the New Jersey General Assembly in November 1958, serving as the lone Assemblyman from Somerset County (at the time, Assembly districts were apportioned by counties' populations) going on to serve as assistant majority leader in 1964 and majority leader in 1965.
Bateman sponsored the 1962 legislation that established New Jersey's county-based community college system.
[5] He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1967 and was reelected in 1971 from the 8th Legislative District which consisted of all of Somerset County.
[6] In 1977 Bateman won the Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey over Thomas Kean and two other candidates, but he lost in the general election to Brendan Byrne by a margin of 1,184,564 to 888,880 votes.
[10] They had five children: Caren, Raymond Jr. (a luger in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, died 1990),[11] Christopher, Michael, and Joan Anne.