DeForest Soaries

Reverend Dr. DeForest Blake "Buster" Soaries, Jr. (born August 20, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African-American Baptist minister, author and public advocate, from Montclair, New Jersey. He is the former Secretary of State of New Jersey and former chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission. Additionally, he is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, a position he has held since November 1990.