The1982 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey were held on November 2, 1982, to determine who would represent the people ofNew Jersey in theUnited States House of Representatives. This election coincided with national elections forU.S. House andU.S. Senate. New Jersey had fourteen seats in the House, apportioned according to the1980 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.
New Jersey congressional districts before (left) and after (right) the 1980 census decennial redistricting
Following the1980 United States census, the New Jersey Legislature had conducted decennial redistricting. The resulting map, which was considered heavily favorable to the Democratic Party and approved by Democratic governorBrendan Byrne just before he left office, was used for the 1982 elections. Although the seven Republican incumbents challenged the map in court (and would eventually succeed when the map was ruled unconstitutional by theSupreme Court of the United States inKarcher v. Daggett), the Democratic map was in effect for the 1982 elections.[2][3]
The Republicans' lawsuit claimed the new map included several configurations which were "'outrageously designed expressly for political purposes.''[3] The new districts were dramatically less compact than their predecessors and more favorable to the Democratic Party,[3] with two open districts favoring the Democrats, two districts pitting Republican incumbents against each other, and one district pitting a first-term Republican against a veteran member of Democratic Party leadership.
The hometowns of two Republican incumbents were combined in each of the fifth (Jim Courter ofHackettstown andMarge Roukema ofRidgewood) and twelfth districts (Millicent Fenwick ofBernardsville andMatt Rinaldo ofUnion) in an effort to create primary infighting. However, the potential primary challenges were avoided when Fenwick ran for the United States Senate and Rinaldo ran for the open seventh district, allowing Courter to run for the now-vacant twelfth district and avoid a competitive primary against Roukema.
Separately,Old Bridge, the hometown of first-term representativeChris Smith, was relocated to the third district, which was represented by longtime Democratic incumbentJames J. Howard and was made considerably more Democratic. The new fourth district, which Smith had won against incumbentFrank Thompson in an upset in 1980 after Thompson was indicted on bribery charges, was dramatically more Democratic than its already-Democratic predecessor. Rather than challenge Howard, Smith opted to run for re-election in his own district.
The 5th district was redrawn to pit Republican incumbentsJim Courter andMarge Roukema against each other. However, Courter opted to run in the 12th district, which had been vacated byMillicent Fenwick andMatt Rinaldo.
The new "fishhook" design of the district connected disparate communities in Central Jersey includingElizabeth,Princeton andMarlboro.Adam K. Levin, the formerNew Jersey Director of Consumer Affairs and son of wealthy real estate developer and investorPhilip J. Levin, had opposed Rinaldo in 1974 and lost by a large margin. To secure a winnable district in 1982, Levin donated enormous sums of money to Democratic candidates for the New Jersey legislature in 1981.[8]
Although the new district did not have an incumbent, because Rinaldo's hometown ofUnion had been relocated to the 12th district, Rinaldo chose to run for re-election in the 7th, which included most ofUnion County, against Levin.[8]
Boggs Sigmund dropped out of the race just before the filing deadline, choosing instead to run in the crowded Democratic primary for United States Senate. She publicly stated that she had been pressured to switch races by a number of county leaders and Democratic incumbentsRobert Roe,James Howard andBill Hughes.[10]
Despite winning the new district, Rinaldo did not relocate from Union Township and kept both his home and district office there.[8] Union Township was restored to the district in 1984, following the Supreme Court decision inKarcher v. Daggett.
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