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 County results Congressional district results[a]Lautenberg: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Fenwick: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1982 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 2, 1982.
The seat was effectively vacated by the resignation ofHarrison Williams amid scandal in March; his appointed successor,Nicholas F. Brady, did not run.
Democratic businessmanFrank Lautenberg won the seat in a major upset, defeating a large field of eight Democratic candidates andRepublicanMillicent Fenwick, a popular, well-knownU.S. Representative. Lautenberg's campaign was largely self-funded and overcame early polling leads for Fenwick by outspending her 2-to-1 and emphasizing the persistently poor economic conditions under Republican PresidentRonald Reagan andthe conservative Congress.
The seat had been occupied by DemocratHarrison A. Williams, who resigned on March 11, 1982, after being implicated in theAbscam scandal. After Williams' resignation, Republican GovernorThomas Kean appointed RepublicanNicholas F. Brady to the seat. Brady served in the Senate through the primary and general elections but did not run for the seat himself.
Fenwick, an extremely popular Congresswoman, centered much of her primary campaign on her electability, name recognition, and ability to win down-ballot races for local Republican candidates.[2] Bell framed himself as a strong supporter, or even architect, of President Reagan's economic platform, blaming theFederal Reserve Board's high interest rates for slow economic growth.[1] Fenwick instead blamed the large federalbudget deficit and called for cuts topublic works spending, while preservingsocial services.[1] TheNew York Times therefore framed the race as a referendum on the Reagan administration's economic policies. Bell himself admitted, "If I lose, I think a lot of obituaries are going to be written forReaganomics."[4] Bell's campaign may have been undercut when President Reagan blamed the federal budget deficit for high inflation, thereby endorsing Fenwick's economic platform, though not the candidate herself.[5]
Both Bell and Fenwick supported afreeze on nuclear weapons contingent on the United States surpassing theSoviet Union's arsenal, while Morris opposed a de jure freeze, arguing that a de facto freeze already existed. Morris also supported a sharp increase in military spending to deter Soviet expansion into the Middle East and Western Hemisphere and proposed American intervention in theFalklands War to force bothArgentina and theUnited Kingdom to withdraw, citing theMonroe Doctrine.[1] He also challenged New York City mayorEd Koch, then running for Governor, to swim from Manhattan to the Jersey shore to bring attention to pollution.[2]
After the first debate, Morris withdrew from the race, saying that he had made his point and did not have the funding to continue.[2] Though he chose to remain neutral, his withdrawal was seen to benefit Bell, a fellow conservative. Bell admitted he had asked Morris to withdraw, though he did not know how much effect this had.[2]
Near the end of the primary, Bell unsuccessfully sought the endorsement of GovernorTom Kean.[4]
Late in the campaign, Fenwick's aides cited her polling lead at 15 percentage points.[4]
Fenwick defeated by Bell with 54% of the vote. Bell called Fenwick at 11 P.M. on election night to concede. He maintained his interpretation that his defeat was a referendum onReaganomics and that Fenwick's victory was a sign that voters rejected Reagan's policies.[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Millicent Fenwick | 193,683 | 54.28% | |
| Republican | Jeff Bell | 163,145 | 45.72% | |
| Total votes | 356,828 | 100.00 | ||
The first candidate to enter the race was Howard Rosen, a lawyer fromMillburn.[1] Representatives Andrew Maguire and Joseph LeFante both had large bases in their home counties, Bergen and Hudson respectively.[1] Frank Lautenberg, the CEO of ADP, had no natural political base and had never run for office, but had a well-financed media campaign and courted key endorsements.[1]
The last major candidate to join the race was Barbara Boggs Sigmund, a Mercer County Freeholder fromPrinceton and the daughter of late House Majority LeaderHale Boggs and CongresswomanLindy Boggs. Sigmund campaigned for the newly drawn7th congressional district for much of the spring, but joined the Senate race after being recruited by Democratic CongressmenRobert A. Roe,James J. Howard, andWilliam J. Hughes.[1][9] She announced her campaign just one hour before the filing deadline, on the anniversary of her father's birthday.[10][11]
Donald Cresitello, a former mayor ofMorristown, and Richard McAleer, a car-leasing manager, were also late entries.[1]
The Democratic primary was previewed in The New York Times as a "free-for-all," with ten candidates entering before the April 30 filing deadline and no clear favorite.[1]
Lautenberg's campaign was largely self-funded, giving him an advantage in a year when Democratic fundraising was hard to come by following Williams's scandal andJames Florio's narrow, expensive loss in the1981 election for governor.[5] His campaign spending was criticized by LeFante.[5]
Sigmund had support from liberals and some labor elements. She ran a spirited, if brief and underfunded campaign, emphasizing her gender and women's issues, arguing a woman was best suited to take on Fenwick in the fall campaign. At her campaign announcement, Sigmund said that a race between herself and Fenwick "would be the most exciting campaign in the country." She also cited women's perceived compassion and mediating skills as beneficial in politics.[10] One Sigmund supporter referred to the primary race as "Snow White and the Nine Dwarfs."[10]
Sigmund's campaign likely cost Andrew Maguire the endorsement of Mercer County Democrats and women's groups, two groups that had favored him before her entry.[9] Sigmund may also have cut into Maguire's support with labor and Black voters.[10] Sigmund also drew funding and organizational help from Washington.[5]
LeFante's campaign had the key support of the Hudson County Democratic machine, which was expected to deliver him 50,000 votes, about half of what was expected to be necessary to win. Sigmund herself called him the front-runner.[1]
Rosen, who spent $1,000,000 and campaigned vigorously, was forced to cease campaigning late in the race due to a kidney ailment.[4]
In the final weeks, Maguire focused his campaign on North and Central Jersey, making 32 stops at train stations, shopping malls, and factories.[4] Lautenberg and LeFante both campaigned in North Jersey, while Sigmund campaigned withAnne Clark Martindell andClaude Pepper in Trenton.[4]
On election night, the results swung back and forth, with Lautenberg, Maguire, and LeFante each holding the lead several times.[5] Lautenberg claimed victory at 11:40 P.M. and Maguire conceded shortly after. LeFante declined to concede immediately, saying he would wait until Wednesday to re-examine the votes.[5]
Lautenberg won a narrow victory with 26% of the vote to 23% for Maguire and 20% for LeFante. Sigmund ran fourth with 11%. Lautenberg had no strong regional base, but stayed close enough to Maguire in Bergen and LeFante in Hudson to carry the state on the back of narrow victories throughout the rest of the state.[5]
Some Maguire supporters suggested that he would have won had Sigmund not joined the race; the Maguire campaign itself denied this, arguing that Sigmund pulled from all candidates.[9] Maguire might also have won the race if he had betterballot positioning; estimates at the time suggested 5 to 10 percent of ballots were cast for the first name on the list regardless of candidate.[12] The only county Maguire won outside his native Bergen was also the only county where he had the first position, Hunterdon. Likewise, LeFante only won his native Hudson and two counties where he had top position, Cape May and Gloucester. Richard McAleer spent no money on his campaign, but won more than half his votes in Mercer, Union, and Warren, where he led the ballot. In Union, he finished ahead of Sigmund and LeFante.[12]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Frank Lautenberg | 104,666 | 25.97% | |
| Democratic | Andrew Maguire | 92,878 | 23.05% | |
| Democratic | Joseph A. LeFante | 81,440 | 20.21% | |
| Democratic | Barbara Boggs Sigmund | 45,708 | 11.34% | |
| Democratic | Howard Rosen | 28,427 | 7.05% | |
| Democratic | Angelo Bianchi | 17,684 | 4.39% | |
| Democratic | Cyril Yannarelli | 10,188 | 2.53% | |
| Democratic | Frank Forst | 9,563 | 2.37% | |
| Democratic | Richard D. McAleer | 8,110 | 2.01% | |
| Democratic | Donald Cresitello (withdrawn) | 4,295 | 1.07% | |
| Total votes | 402,959 | 100.00 | ||
After the primary, Lautenberg's campaign got off to a rocky start, as polls put Fenwick ahead by as much as 18 points and most figured that she was assured victory in November. Even many Democrats assumed their goal was to keep her margin low enough to preserve Democratic chances for local offices.[1] Lautenberg quipped that his opponent was "the most popular candidate in the country."[13] But Lautenberg waged an aggressive, self-funded campaign against Fenwick, outspending her two-to-one. He emphasized partisan differences by tying Fenwick to PresidentRonald Reagan and SenatorStrom Thurmond and attacking her personally, calling her "erratic" and "eccentric."[13]
Lautenberg faced an early problem when he claimed that Hudson County Democratic leaders asked him to pay offJoseph A. LeFante's primary campaign debts and barred his staff from incumbent U.S. RepresentativeFrank J. Guarini's district campaign offices until he paid. Mayor of Jersey CityGerald McCann denied that he had requested any sum and accused Lautenberg of threatening Hudson County officials by supporting primary challengers in local elections if they withheld support.[14]
In October, the campaign intensified after Lautenberg attacked Fenwick as "a little eccentric," quoting former PresidentGerald Ford. Lautenberg also said she was "erratic in terms of proposals, work and programs."[15] He denied this was an attack on her age and said he was not challenging her "fitness to serve" but her "ability to do the job."[15][13][16] By the month's end, both candidates acknowledged the race had drawn much closer.[17] Lautenberg compared his campaign toMario Cuomo's in the summerNew York Democratic primary, in which he trailedEd Koch by a wide margin in all polls but won a major upset.[14]
Fenwick continued to hammer her independence and criticized Lautenberg for distorting her record. She was particularly the Lautenberg campaign's claim that, "If Fenwick goes to the Senate, she'll support voting-rights opponentStrom Thurmond." Fenwick, a long-time member of theNAACP since before she entered politics, objected. Lautenberg responded, "Mrs. Fenwick's anger has apparently overtaken her... I think that when she comes up with that kind of a campaign after complimenting me a couple of weeks ago for my gentlemanly way of campaigning and turns now, instead of defending her record, to talk about mud slinging, shows how desperate she is." He did not withdraw the charges, but instead returned Fenwick's charge of mudslinging: "Mrs. Fenwick's campaign has taken a radical turn, changing from one where she presented herself as a public servant to one where personality became an issue."[15]
On October 27, Lautenberg held a rally withTed Kennedy at theRobert Treat Hotel inNewark with 1,200 in attendance. Fenwick toured a housing project inEast Orange and took interviews withNew Jersey Network and a Spanish-language channel.[17] On October 31, after the final debate, Lautenberg campaigned with former Vice PresidentWalter Mondale and Second LadyJoan Mondale.[18]
Early polling indicated a large lead for Fenwick, as much as 18 percentage points. However, this polling narrowed considerably by the end of October. Public polls showed Lautenberg had pulled even or ahead. Nevertheless, Fenwick's campaign said internal polling gave her a lead of no less than 5 percentage points and as much as 7.[17]
An October survey by the Eagleton Institute of Politics found that six out of seven undecided voters said that Fenwick's sex made no difference and one in ten said they would be more likely to vote for Fenwick because she was a woman. Sixty percent of all voters said sex made no difference, while 26 percent said they preferred a female and 14 percent preferred a male.[19]
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size[b] | Margin of error | Frank Lautenberg (D) | Millicent Fenwick (R) | Other / Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Star-Ledger/Eagleton[20] | May–June 1982 | 822 LV | ?% | 24% | 41% | 35% |
| Rutgers-Eagleton Poll[21][not specific enough to verify] | September 14–25, 1982 | 756 RV | ±3.7% | 32% | 50% | 18% |
| 457 LV | ±4.7% | 32% | 51% | 17% | ||
| Rutgers-Eagleton Poll[21][not specific enough to verify][22] | October 18–23, 1982 | 500 LV | ?% | 40% | 45% | 15% |
| Rutgers-Eagleton Poll[21][not specific enough to verify][22] | October 24–26, 1982 | 600 LV | ?% | 41% | 44% | 15% |
| Hackensack Record[17] | October 27, 1982 | ? LV | ?% | 41% | 42% | 17% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size[b] | Margin of error | Frank Lautenberg (D) | Millicent Fenwick (R) | Other / Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutgers-Eagleton[23] | November 1, 1982 | 330 LV | ±4.0% | 45% | 46% | 11% |
The second debate, sponsored by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and hosted by the Birchwood Manor on October 3, centered on economic issues.[24] Fenwick criticized Lautenberg for claiming to have created 16,000 jobs, most of which she said were created byacquisitions. Lautenberg denied this and said his business was created by "hard work." Lautenberg referred to Fenwick's congressional and legislative voting record as "anti-job," criticizing her vote to cut federally underwritten college loans. Fenwick criticized Lautenberg's support of an "American-made" bill that she said would cost 15,000 American jobs.[24] The candidates also disagreed over theEconomic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, for which Fenwick voted. Lautenberg said the Act did too little to reduce inflation and that the appropriate way to cut unemployment was to fund technological training and fund transportation. Fenwick said that Lautenberg's criticism of spending cuts "reflects the old appetite for bigger government and more spending."[24] Fenwick did criticize Reagan for imposing sanctions on a Soviet pipeline, expressing sympathy for "Solidarity and Polish dissidents" but saying that the sanctions "cost[] jobs in the United States."[24]
Fenwick described Lautenberg's performance in the fifth debate as "kind of pathetic."[17]
The sixth and final debate was held on October 31 and "reflected both the apparent closeness of the race and the acrimony that has often marked its final stages." Fenwick emphasized her image and character, and again criticized Lautenberg's campaign as outrageously deceptive. Lautenberg defending his campaign spending as "highlight[ing] her record" and attacked the national Republican slogan of "stay the course." He blamed her criticism on tightening polls.[18] Jobs and the economy remained the major issue. Lautenberg contended that Fenwick supported cuts to Social Security benefits, which she denied.[18]
Lautenberg directly defended his campaign literature tying Fenwick to Strom Thurmond, arguing that while he was "not accusing Mrs. Fenwick of anti-voting rights views," her victory would preserve the Republican Senate majority and thereby empower Thurmond.[18] After the debate, Fenwick said she would prefer a new chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to replace Thurmond.[18]
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Lautenberg won by 69,923 votes, in what was considered a major upset.[13]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Frank Lautenberg | 1,117,549 | 50.94% |  9.72 | ||
| Republican | Millicent Fenwick | 1,047,626 | 47.75% |  9.40 | ||
| Libertarian | Henry Koch | 9,934 | 0.45% | 0.27 | ||
| Socialist Labor | Julius Levin | 5,580 | 0.25% | 0.08 | ||
| Independent | Martin E. Wendelken | 4,745 | 0.22% | N/A | ||
| Socialist Workers | Claire Moriarty | 3,726 | 0.17% | N/A | ||
| Grassroots | Robert T. Bastien | 2,955 | 0.14% | N/A | ||
| Repeal TF 807 | Rose Zeidwerg Monyek | 1,830 | 0.08% | N/A | ||
| Total votes | 2,193,945 | 100.00% | ||||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||||
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| County | Lautenberg % | Lautenberg votes | Fenwick % | Fenwick votes | Other % | Other votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | 53.7% | 30,801 | 44.7% | 25,606 | 1.6% | 901 |
| Bergen | 48.5% | 147,811 | 50.7% | 154,691 | 0.8% | 2,582 |
| Burlington | 49.4% | 48,035 | 49.6% | 48,215 | 1.0% | 958 |
| Camden | 57.9% | 75,389 | 41.0% | 53,394 | 1.2% | 1,534 |
| Cape May | 43.5% | 12,875 | 55.1% | 16,310 | 1.3% | 394 |
| Cumberland | 54.4% | 17,834 | 43.5% | 14,250 | 2.1% | 689 |
| Essex | 60.6% | 126,766 | 38.1% | 79,654 | 1.3% | 2,672 |
| Gloucester | 54.1% | 33,409 | 44.2% | 27,280 | 1.7% | 1,067 |
| Hudson | 69.4% | 97,636 | 29.0% | 40,766 | 1.6% | 2,306 |
| Hunterdon | 32.3% | 8,340 | 65.4% | 16,896 | 2.3% | 605 |
| Mercer | 54.1% | 52,593 | 44.7% | 43,431 | 1.2% | 1,171 |
| Middlesex | 53.9% | 94,351 | 44.6% | 78,067 | 1.6% | 2,769 |
| Monmouth | 47.2% | 76,430 | 51.5% | 83,457 | 1.4% | 2,207 |
| Morris | 33.1% | 41,134 | 66.1% | 82,251 | 0.8% | 1,031 |
| Ocean | 44.5% | 55,046 | 54.8% | 67,701 | 0.7% | 878 |
| Passaic | 56.0% | 61,397 | 41.4% | 45,353 | 2.6% | 2,891 |
| Salem | 49.9% | 9,994 | 47.6% | 9,528 | 2.5% | 495 |
| Somerset | 31.3% | 22,030 | 68.3% | 48,067 | 0.4% | 313 |
| Sussex | 36.6% | 11,506 | 62.0% | 19,498 | 1.4% | 435 |
| Union | 49.97% | 83,436 | 48.6% | 81,211 | 1.4% | 2,325 |
| Warren | 46.6% | 10,736 | 52.0% | 12,000 | 1.4% | 319 |
Brady, who had just a few days left in his appointed term, resigned on December 27, 1982, allowing Lautenberg to take office several days before the traditional swearing-in of senators, which gave him an edge inseniority over the other freshman senators.
After her term expired in January, Fenwick retired from electoral politics. President Reagan appointed herUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and she served from 1983 to 1987.
The age issue would be used against Lautenberg in his own re-election bid in2008.
TRENTON, May 27— Former Mayor Donald Cresitello of Morristown withdrew today from the race for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator and endorsed former Representative Joseph A. LeFante of Bayonne.
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