The1971 New Jersey State Senate election was the mid-term election of RepublicanWilliam Cahill's term as Governor ofNew Jersey. Democrats picked up seven Senate seats. Democrats flipped Districts 2, 3B, 11B, 11D, 11E, 14A, 14B, and 14C. Republicans flipped District 6A.
Legislative districts were redrawn by a 10-member bipartisanNew Jersey Apportionment Commission to reflect population changes following the 1970U.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 decisionReynolds 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.
Eleventh District:Milton Waldor (R-Essex), lost to DemocratRalph DeRose, a member of the Reapportionment Commission.
One incumbent Republican Senator who was denied party support for another term ran in the general election as an Independent candidate and was defeated; Republicans held this seat:[4]
Sixteen incumbents did not seek re-election. 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 RepublicanJames Cafiero, an Assemblyman from Cape May County.
Third District, 3A:John L. White (R-Gloucester), succeeded by RepublicanJames Turner, a former Gloucester County Freeholder.
Third District, 3B:Hugh A. Kelly (R-Camden), succeeded by DemocratJoseph 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 LeaderHarry L. Sears (R-Morris), succeeded by RepublicanPeter W. Thomas, the Morris County Republican Chairman.
Eleventh District:Geraldo Del Tufo (R-Essex), succeeded by DemocratWynona 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 DemocratFrank 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 RepublicanJoseph 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 DemocratEdward J. Hughes, an industrialist and engineer from Burlington County.
Fourteenth District:Frank Sciro (R-Passaic), succeeded by DemocratJoseph Lazzara, a Passaic County Freeholder.
Fourteenth District:Ira Schoem (R-Passaic), succeeded by DemocratWilliam J. Bate, a Passaic County Freeholder.
Fourteenth District:Edward Sisco (R-Passaic), succeeded by DemocratJoseph 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:
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 RepublicanWilliam 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 DemocratJoseph P. Merlino, the Trenton City Attorney. (Ridolfi was elected At-Large in 1967; Merlino won the 6B seat in 1971.)
^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.
