1971 New Jersey Senate election

The 1971 New Jersey State Senate Elections was the mid-term election of Republican William Cahill's term as Governor of New Jersey. Democrats picked up seven Senate seats. Sixteen incumbents did not seek re-election.

1971 New Jersey Senate elections
November 2, 1971
All 40 seats in the New Jersey State Senate
21 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Raymond Bateman J. Edward Crabiel
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat 8th: Somerset 7th: Middlesex
Last election 31 9
Seats before 29 9
Seats won 24 16
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 7
Popular vote Total of dist. avg. 919,262 Total of dist. avg. 902,180
Senate President before election

Raymond Bateman[1]
Republican

 Elected Senate President

Raymond Bateman
Republican

Background

Reapportioning
See also: Reynolds v. Sims

Legislative districts were redrawn by a 10-member bi-partisan New Jersey Apportionment Commission to reflect population changes following the 1970 U.S. Census. Senators generally (with some exceptions) ran At-Large countywide.

Until 1965, the New Jersey State Senate was composed of 21 senators with each county electing one senator. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims required legislative districts to be approximately equal in population (a principle known as "one man, one vote").[2] In 1965, the New Jersey Senate was increased to 29 members, with larger counties given multiple seats and some smaller counties sharing one or two senators.

The map was changed again in 1967, and again in 1971, as the state adjusted to the one man, one vote ruling.

For the 1971 election, two seats were eliminated in District 11 and District 12 (Essex and Hudson counties, respectively). They were replaced by two new seats in the single-member District 4C and District 5 (Burlington and Monmouth counties, respectively). District 6 (now comprising Mercer and Hunterdon County) also switched from electing its senators at-large to electing them from two single-member districts because it became composed of more than one county.

The new districts were divided as follows:

DistrictCounties#
1Cape May and Cumberland1
2Atlantic1
3ASalem and Gloucester (part)1
3BGloucester (part) and Camden (part)1
3CCamden (part)1
4AOcean (part)1
4BBurlington (part) and Ocean (part)1
4CBurlington (part)1
5Monmouth3
6AHunterdon and Mercer (part)1
6BMercer (part)1
7Middlesex3
8Somerset1
9Union3
10Morris2
11Essex5
12Hudson3
13Bergen5
14Passaic3
15Warren and Sussex1

Incumbents not running for re-election

Democratic

Republican

Summary of results by State Senate District
District Incumbent Party Elected Senator Party
District 1 Robert E. Kay Rep James Cafiero Rep
District 2 Frank S. Farley Rep Joseph McGahn Dem
District 3A John L. White Rep James M. Turner Rep
District 3B Hugh A. Kelly Rep Joseph Maressa Dem
District 3C John L. Miller Rep John L. Miller Rep
District 3D Frank C. Italiano Rep Frank C. Italiano Rep
District 4A William Hiering Rep John F. Brown Rep
District 4B Vacant[lower-alpha 1] Barry T. Parker Rep
District 4C New seat Edward J. Hughes Dem
District 5 Richard Stout Rep Richard Stout Rep
Alfred Beadleston Rep Alfred Beadleston Rep
New seat Joseph Azzolina Rep
District 6[lower-alpha 2] Richard J. Coffee Dem William Schluter Rep
Sido L. Ridolfi Dem Joseph P. Merlino Dem
District 7 John A. Lynch Sr. Dem John A. Lynch Sr. Dem
J. Edward Crabiel Dem J. Edward Crabiel Dem
Norman Tanzman Dem Norman Tanzman Dem
District 8 Raymond Bateman Rep Raymond Bateman Rep
District 9 Frank X. McDermott Rep Frank X. McDermott Rep
Matt Rinaldo Rep Matt Rinaldo Rep
Vacant[lower-alpha 3] Jerome Epstein Rep
District 10 Joseph Maraziti Rep Joseph Maraziti Rep
Harry L. Sears Rep Peter W. Thomas Rep
District 11 James Wallwork Rep James Wallwork Rep
David W. Dowd Rep Frank J. Dodd Dem
Michael Giuliano Rep Michael Giuliano Rep
Milton Waldor Rep Ralph DeRose Dem
Geraldo Del Tufo Rep Wynona Lipman Dem
Alexander Matturri Rep Seat eliminated
District 12 Frederick Hauser Dem James P. Dugan Dem
William F. Kelly Jr. Dem William F. Kelly Jr. Dem
William Musto Dem William Musto Dem
Frank J. Guarini Dem Seat eliminated
District 13 Willard Knowlton Rep Harold Hollenbeck Rep
Joseph Woodcock Rep Joseph Woodcock Rep
Fairleigh Dickinson Jr. Rep Frederick Wendel Rep
Alfred Schiaffo Rep Alfred Schiaffo Rep
Garrett Hagedorn Rep Garrett Hagedorn Rep
District 14 Edward Sisco Rep Joseph Hirkala Dem
Ira Schoem Rep William J. Bate Dem
Frank Sciro Rep Joseph Lazzara Dem
District 15 Wayne Dumont Jr. Rep Wayne Dumont Jr. Rep
  1. The seat was left vacant by the resignation of Edwin B. Forsythe, who was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives in January 1971.
  2. Split into Districts 6A and 6B.
  3. The third Union seat was vacant after Nicholas LaCorte resigned in 1970. A special election was held simultaneously to complete the remainder of LaCorte's term (November 1971–January 1972) and was won by Democrat Jerry Fitzgerald English.

Gains and losses

Two incumbent Republican senators were defeated for re-election:[3]

One incumbent Republican Senator who was denied party support for another term ran in the General Election as Independent candidates and was defeated; Republicans held this seat:[4]

  • Thirteenth District: Willard Knowlton (R-Bergen), succeeded by Republican Harold C. Hollenbeck, an Assemblyman from Bergen County.

No incumbent Democratic senators were defeated for re-election.

Open Seats

Thirteen incumbent Republican senators did not seek re-election in 1971, and Democrats won six of those seats:[5]

  • First District: Robert E. Kay (R-Cape May), succeeded by Republican James Cafiero, an Assemblyman from Cape May County.
  • Third District, 3A: John L. White (R-Gloucester), succeeded by Republican James Turner, a former Gloucester County Freeholder.
  • Third District, 3B: Hugh A. Kelly (R-Camden), succeeded by Democrat Joseph Maressa, an attorney from Gloucester County.
  • Fourth District 4A: William Hiering (R-Ocean), succeeded by Republican John F. Brown, an Assemblyman from Ocean County.
  • Tenth District: Majority Leader Harry L. Sears (R-Morris, succeeded by Republican Peter W. Thomas, the Morris County Republican Chairman.
  • Eleventh District: Geraldo Del Tufo (R-Essex), succeeded by Democrat Wynona Lipman, an Essex County Freeholder. (Del Tufo instead ran successfully for the Essex County Board of Freeholders. Lipman became the first Black woman to serve in the State Senate.)
  • Eleventh District: David W. Dowd (R-Essex), succeeded by Democrat Frank J. Dodd, an Assemblyman from Essex County.
  • Eleventh District: Alexander Matturri (R-Essex). The Matturi seat was eliminated in redistricting and the Fifth District in Monmouth County gained a seat. Matturi was effectively succeeded by Republican Joseph Azzolina, an Assemblyman from Monmouth County.
  • Twelfth District: Frank Joseph Guarini (D-Hudson). The Guarini seat was eliminated in redistricting and the Fourth District, 4C in Burlington County gained a seat. Guarini was effectively succeeded by Democrat Edward J. Hughes, an industrialist and engineer from Burlington County.
  • Thirteenth District: Fairleigh Dickinson, Jr. (R-Bergen), succeeded by Republican Frederick Wendel, the Mayor of Oradell.
  • Fourteenth District: Frank Sciro (R-Passaic), succeeded by Democrat Joseph Lazzara, a Passaic County Freeholder.
  • Fourteenth District: Ira Schoem (R-Passaic), succeeded by Democrat William J. Bate, a Passaic County Freeholder.
  • Fourteenth District: Edward Sisco (R-Passaic), succeeded by Democrat Joseph Hirkala, an Assemblyman and the Passaic City Clerk.

One incumbent Republican Senator was elected to Congress in 1970 and resigned his State Senate seat in January 1971 to take his seats in the U.S. House of Representatives:[6]

  • Fourth District, 4B: Edwin B. Forsythe (R-Burlington), succeeded by Republican Assembly Speaker Barry T. Parker.

One incumbent Republican Senator resigned in 1970 to become a Judge. His seat was won in a November 1971 Special Election by a Democrat, but Republicans held the seat in the November 1971 General Election for a full term:

  • Ninth District: Nicholas LaCorte (R-Union), succeeded by Jerry Fitzgerald English (D-Union) from November 1971 to January 1972, and then by Jerome Epstein (R-Union).

One incumbent Democratic Senator was defeated for renomination in the June primary and Democrats held that seat:

  • Twelfth District: Frederick Hauser (D-Hudson), defeated by James P. Dugan, an Assemblyman from Hudson County.[7]

Two incumbent Democratic senators did not seek re-election in 1971. Democrats won one seat and Republicans won one seat:[8]

  • Sixth District, 6A: Richard J. Coffee (D-Mercer), succeeded by Republican William Schluter, an Assemblyman from Mercer County. (Coffee was elected At-Large in 1967; Schluter won the 6A seat, which now included all of Hunterdon and part of Mercer.)
  • Sixth District, 6B: Sido L. Ridolfi (D-Mercer), succeeded by Democrat Joseph P. Merlino, the Trenton City Attorney. (Ridolfiwas elected At-Large in 1967; Merlino won the 6B seat in 1971.)

Incumbents who were reelected

Five incumbent Democratic senators were re-elected in 1971:[9]

Fourteen incumbent Republican senators were re-elected in 1971:[10]

Leadership

Republicans chose Raymond Bateman as the Senate President and Alfred Beadleston as Majority Leader; Republicans named J. Edward Crabiel as Minority Leader.[11]

References
  1. Sullivan, Ronald (March 24, 1971). "Hudson and Essex Losing Seats in Jersey's Senate". New York Times.
  2. "JERSEY ORDERED TO REAPPORTION; Judge Finds Congressional Districts Unconstitutional". New York Times. May 21, 1965.
  3. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  4. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  5. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  6. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  7. "Our Campaigns" (PDF).
  8. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  9. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  10. "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  11. Fitzgerald's New Jersey Legislative Manual. Joseph J. Gribbons. 1972.
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