Ageneral election was held in theU.S. state ofNew Jersey on November 3, 2009.Primary elections were held on June 2. Most state positions were up in this election cycle, which includes all 80 seats in theNew Jersey General Assembly, as well asGovernor and Lieutenant Governor (which was up for the first time). In addition to the State Legislative elections, numerouscounty offices andfreeholders in addition tomunicipal offices were up for election. There was one statewide ballot question. Some counties and municipalities may have had local ballot questions as well. Non-partisan local elections, some school board elections, and some fire district elections also happened throughout the year.
Former U.S. AttorneyChristopher J. Christie had long been considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination. He was heavily favored by the party establishment and had won the endorsement and county line of all county GOP organizations.[2]Christie's chief opponent in the primary was former Bogota mayorSteve Lonegan, known for his very right-wing positions and vocal opposition to the Corzine administration; another staunch conservative, General AssemblymanRick Merkt was also on the ballot.David Brown, Christian Keller, andFranklin Township mayor Brian D. Levine also filed to run in the Republican primary, but their petitions were challenged by Lonegan and they were disqualified from the ballot when administrative judges ruled that their nominating petitions failed to meet the threshold of 1,000 valid signatures.[3]Upon leaving the race, Brown and Levine endorsed Christie.[4][5]
Christie and Lonegan attacked each other relentlessly throughout the primary campaign through mailers androbocalls, with each seeking to undermine the other by drawing the public's attention to scandals involving the other. Lonegan proposed ending the state's progressive income tax system and replacing it with a 2.9%flat tax for all New Jerseyans. Christie strongly opposed this proposal, arguing that Lonegan's proposal would amount to a tax increase for most New Jerseyans. Christie instead proposed cutting taxes "across the board," although he refused to say by how much.[6] There were two televised debates, which excluded Merkt, and two radio debates, which included him. Ultimately, Christie was able to win the primary with 55% of the vote to Lonegan's 42% and Merkt's 3%.
The following Republican Primary candidates were removed from the ballot:
Although polls indicated his vulnerability in the general election, GovernorJon S. Corzine was heavily favored to win the Democratic primary over his three little-known challengers. The only one of those to have held elected office, formerGlen Ridge mayor Carl Bergmanson, was running on a platform of fiscal discipline, social liberalism, and government reform; he had received the support of the Citizens Against Tolls website. Roger Bacon,Democrat ofPhillipsburg, an unsuccessful candidate for theUnited States House of Representatives inNew Jersey's 5th congressional district in 2008,[10] and Jeff Boss,Democrat ofGuttenberg, an unsuccessful candidate forUnited States Senate in 2008,[11] also ran. In the primary, Corzine won renomination with 77% of the vote, while Bergmanson, his closest competitor, received about 9%.
Since the primaries, polls consistently showed Christie leading Corzine, sometimes by double digits. The election became a three-way race on July 7, when independent candidateChristopher Daggett announced that he had raised enough money to qualify for public funds and to qualify for participation in the debates.[12] On July 20, Christie selectedKim Guadagno as his running mate.[13] On July 24, Corzine announced in an e-mail to his supporters that he had selectedLoretta Weinberg as his running mate.[14] On July 27, Daggett announced that he had selected longtimeKean University professor and administratorFrank J. Esposito as his running mate.[15]
Although the economy and taxes have long been prominent issues in the campaign, the issue of ethics and anti-corruption efforts was thrust into the spotlight in July when several public officials were arrested on corruption charges inOperation Bid Rig. One of Corzine's main lines of attack has involved Christie's ties to the unpopular former President of the United StatesGeorge W. Bush, who appointed Christie to the U.S. Attorney's office in 2001. In August 2009, Bush political strategistKarl Rove revealed that he had held conversations with Christie about a potential gubernatorial run during Christie's time as U.S. Attorney. U.S. Attorneys are prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities by theHatch Act of 1939.[16] Corzine quickly incorporated this into his advertisements targeting Christie.[17] Nonetheless, Christie defeated Corzine by 4 points.
On November 8, 2005, voters passed aConstitutional amendment to theNew Jersey State Constitution which created the office of Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, the first of whom is to be elected in the 2009 general election and to take office in January 2010. Until the creation of the office, governors who died in office or stepped down were succeeded by thePresident of the New Jersey Senate. This has happened twice in recent years, with the resignations ofChristine Todd Whitman in 2001 andJames McGreevey in 2004. Concerns over the separation of powers, as Acting Governors continued to serve concurrently in the Senate, and the fact that Acting Governors were not elected by the people to succeed the Governor led to the Constitutional amendment that created the new office. All 12 candidates for governor appearing on the ballot selected their running mates by the June 27, 2009 deadline.[18]
6th Legislative District: Sen.John Adler (D) resigned his seat to take office in theU.S. House of Representatives. He was replaced in a special election convention in January 2009 by then-Camden County ClerkJames Beach. Beach will run in a special election in November to keep the seat for the rest of Adler's four-year term. He is being challenged by Republican Joseph Adolf, former mayor ofMagnolia.
State Senator – 6th Legislative District – Results[19] * denotes incumbent
23rd Legislative District: Sen.Leonard Lance resigned his seat to take office in theU.S. House of Representatives. He was replaced in a special election convention in January 2009 by then-AssemblywomanMarcia A. Karrow, who was selected over AssemblymanMichael J. Doherty. Doherty declared his candidacy in the primary; he defeated Karrow in the Republican primary by approximately 1,000 votes, with 52% of those cast going to him. Doherty will now run against Democrat Harvey Baron, anorthopedic surgeon, for the remainder of Lance's four-year term in the November special election.
State Senator – 23rd Legislative District – Results[19]
The2009 New Jersey General Assembly elections were held on November 3, 2009, for all 80 seats in the lower house of theNew Jersey Legislature. The election coincided with agubernatorial election where Democratic incumbent GovernorJon Corzine was defeated by Republican challengerChris Christie. Democrats held a 48-32 majority in the lower house prior to the election. The members of theNew Jersey Legislature are chosen from 40 electoral districts. Each district elects one State Senator and two State Assembly members. New Jersey uses coterminous legislative districts for both itsState Senate andGeneral Assembly.
TheDemocratic Party won a 47-33 majority while losing the popular vote. Republicans were able to flip one seat in the 4th district.
1st Legislative District: This district was considered a battleground in the 2009 General Assembly election. Incumbent DemocratsMatthew Milam andNelson Albano were seeking a second and third term respectively. They were being challenged by 2007 candidate Michael Donohue, an attorney, and John McCann, a real estate agent inOcean City who chaired that city's Republican committee.Upper Township Committeeman Frank Conrad was Donohue's running mate until June 20, 2009, when he withdrew from the race to focus on his highway safety equipment business. The GOP was vigorously pursuing the seats. Republican polling released on August 19 showed Republicans winning these Assembly seats in a generic ballot test, 48% to 29%.[20] These were the only Democratic seats forecast as "Leans Republican" by PolitickerNJ.com.[21]
3rd Legislative District: Democratic AssemblymanDoug Fisher resigned his seat in March 2009 to be sworn in as New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture. Fisher was replaced byCeleste Riley, previously aBridgeton Council President. Surgeon Robert Villare and commercial oven repairman Lee Lucas won the Republican nomination over formerCumberland County surrogate and freeholder Arthur Marchand andGreenwich Township mayor George Shivery. While the state GOP did not view Villare and Lucas as viable candidates, and Riley and fellow incumbentJohn J. Burzichelli were expected to win easily with PolitickerNJ.com forecasted these seats as "Safe Democratic,"[21] the race for the second seat was closer than anticipated, with Riley besting Villare by a little more than 1200 votes.
4th Legislative District: Democratic AssemblywomanSandra Love announced that she would not run for a second term, citing health issues. The other incumbent assemblyman, Democrat Paul Moriarty, was running for re-election with new running mate Bill Collins, formerly of theGloucester Township school board. Former Gloucester Township Councilman Eugene E.T. Lawrence, who served on the council as a Democrat, was nominated in the Republican primary, having switched parties to express his disdain for Governor Corzine's budget proposals.Dominick DiCicco ofFranklinville, who was endorsed byNewt Gingrich in the primary, was the other Republican nominee. DiCicco is currently the Chief Legal Officer of North American Claim Operation forZurich Financial Services. Lawrence and DiCicco defeated Andrew Savicky in the Republican primary. Republican polling released on August 19 showed Republicans winning these Assembly seats in a generic ballot test, 41% to 33%.[20] However, PolitickerNJ.com had classified these seats as "Likely Democratic."[21] Unofficial results show Moriarty being re-elected, with DiCicco defeating Collins by a little more than 1,000 votes. Republicans gained one seat here.
5th Legislative District: Democratic AssemblywomanNilsa Cruz-Perez is retiring after fourteen years in office.Camden City Council PresidentAngel Fuentes was nominated in the Democratic primary to take her place on the ballot.Joe Roberts, a veteran assemblyman and the current Assembly Speaker, was also nominated in the June primary; however, on September 2, he announced that he would not be seeking re-election after all, saying at a state house press conference, "I think it’s, from my perspective, just time to take a break."[22] Party leaders selected Fuentes's new running mate on September 12: labor leaderDonald Norcross, who is also aCamden County Democratic Party co-chair and South Jersey political bossGeorge Norcross's brother.[23] The Republican nominees in this heavily Democratic district were Brian Kluchnick ofHaddon Heights and Stepfanie Velez-Gentry ofBellmawr. PolitickerNJ.com forecasted these seats as "Safe Democratic.".[21] Winners: Norcross & Fuentes[24]
9th Legislative District: Republican AssemblymanDaniel Van Pelt resigned and withdrew from his re-election bid on July 31, after being indicted on corruption charges. He was replaced on the ballot byDiAnne Gove, the former mayor and a current commissioner ofLong Beach Township.[25] Incumbent RepublicanBrian E. Rumpf was running for re-election. The Democratic nominees were attorneys Rich Visotcky ofStafford Township and Rob Rue ofTuckerton. PolitickerNJ.com forecasted these seats as "Safe Republican.".[21] Winners: Rumpf & Gove[24]
12th Legislative District: The Democratic Party was targeting freshmen Republican incumbentsDeclan O'Scanlon andCaroline Casagrande. Democrats have a registration edge of 10,000 voters in the district. FormerManalapan Mayor and current township committeewoman Michelle Roth was running on a Democratic ticket with John Amberg ofTinton Falls, a teacher in theIrvington Public Schools. TheCouncil on Affordable Housing is a major issue in the district, especially in towns likeMarlboro, where Mayor Jon Hornik told Governor Corzine: "If you don’t kill COAH, it will kill my town."[26] Casagrande and O'Scanlon both voted against the Democratic affordable housing bill in 2008; it passed anyway. Roth and Amberg did not take a stance on COAH on their website. Instead, they were campaigning on a platform of ending fiscal waste and improving government transparency. PolitickerNJ.com forecasted these seats as "Likely Republican.".[21] Winners: Casagrande & O'Scanlon[27]
14th Legislative District: Democratic incumbentsLinda Greenstein andWayne DeAngelo represent a district that elected a Republican,Bill Baroni, to the New Jersey Senate that same year. Because this district is heavily populated by unionized state workers, being pro-labor is considered a tremendous asset in this district. Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie has supported the reduction of state workers to cut state spending, however; thus, alignment with Christie is something of a liability in this district. On the other hand, many state workers are also dissatisfied with Governor Corzine's imposition of unpaid furloughs and wage freezes. As a result of all of this, the district was considered highly competitive. The Republican challengers were Robert Calabro, a member of theHamilton planning board who owns food markets and cafes in Hamilton and Trenton, and attorney William Harvey, also of Hamilton. Brian Hackett, a 21-year-old student activist atThe College of New Jersey, was defeated in the primary. Gene Baldassari, who was added to the ballot by petition, was the first New Jersey candidate of theModern Whig Party ever. Republican polling released on August 19 showed Republicans winning these Assembly seats in a generic ballot test, 47% to 36%.[20] However, PolitickerNJ.com classified these seats as "Safe Democratic.".[21] Winners: Greenstein & DeAngelo[24]
19th Legislative District: Upon being indicted on corruption charges, Democratic AssemblymanJoseph Vas announced that he would not seek a second term. Jack O'Leary, longtime Mayor ofSouth Amboy, took Vas's place on a ticket with incumbent DemocratJohn S. Wisniewski. However, dogged by a state investigation into his insurance business and intra-party pressure to bow out of the race, O'Leary ended his campaign on August 17.[28] He was replaced on the ballot on September 2 byCraig Coughlin ofWoodbridge,[29] a retired municipal judge who currently serves as Woodbridge's municipal attorney and previously served asCarteret's borough attorney and as a South Amboy Councilman.[30] Peter Kothari, an Indian-American businessman, was running on the GOP ticket withPerth Amboy real estate broker Richard Piatkowski, who ran for Congress in 2004. James Poesl, an environmental emergency response professional fromWoodbridge, was running as an "Independent Conservative." Polling released on August 19 showed Republicans winning these Assembly seats in a generic ballot test, 46% to 31%.[20] However, PolitickerNJ.com classified these seats as "Likely Democratic."[21]>>. Winners: Wisniewski & Coughlin[24]
20th Legislative District: Democratic AssemblymanNeil M. Cohen resigned on July 28, 2008, while under investigation by state authorities for possession ofchild pornography. (Cohen has since been indicted for official misconduct, possession of child pornography, and reproduction and distribution of child pornography.)Elizabeth attorneyAnnette Quijano was selected to complete Cohen's term in the Assembly; she ran for election to a term in her own right as the running mate of veteran Democratic Assemblyman and State Democratic ChairmanJoseph Cryan ofUnion Township. Quijano and Cryan ran unopposed. Winners: Cryan & Quijano[24]
21st Legislative District: Republican AssemblymanEric Munoz died in office on March 30, 2009, at the age of 61. A special convention selected his widow,Nancy Munoz, as his successor. She then defeatedLong Hill Township Mayor George Vitureira and Long Hill school board member Bruce Meringolo for the seat in the Republican primary. FormerCranford mayor Norman Albert andSpringfield attorney Bruce Bergen ran on the Democratic ticket. The late Munoz's running mate, RepublicanJon Bramnick, ran successfully for re-election; Nancy Munoz was elected to her first full term. PolitickerNJ.com forecast these seats as "Safe Republican."[21] Winners: Bramnick & Munoz[24]
23rd Legislative District: Republican AssemblywomanMarcia A. Karrow resigned her assembly seat to succeed newly elected U.S. RepresentativeLeonard Lance in the New Jersey Senate. Karrow was replaced in the General Assembly by then-Warren County freeholderJohn DiMaio. The other assemblyman from this district,Michael J. Doherty, challenged Karrow in the Republican primary for the Senate seat and won, thus giving up his seat in the Assembly to run for Senate. In the Republican primary for the assembly seats, DiMaio andHunterdon County freeholderErik Peterson narrowly won the nomination, edging Doherty's chief of staff, Edward Smith. The Democratic nominees in this overwhelmingly Republican district were William Courtney ofReadington and Tammeisha Smith ofColumbia; DiMaio and Peterson defeated them easily. PolitickerNJ.com forecast these seats as "Safe Republican."[21] Winners: DiMaio & Peterson[24]
25th Legislative District: Republican AssemblymanRick Merkt decided to run for governor rather than seek re-election to his seat. AttorneyTony Bucco, the son of New Jersey SenatorAnthony Bucco, ran againstMorris County freeholder Douglas Cabana for Merkt's seat in the Republican primary. Bucco defeated Cabana by less than 800 votes; putting him on a ticket with incumbent RepublicanMichael Patrick Carroll. The Democratic nominees in this district were Rebekah Conroy ofMorristown and Wendy Wright ofBoonton Township. Carroll and Bucco won easily in this Republican stronghold. PolitickerNJ.com forecast these seats as "Safe Republican."[21] Winners: Bucco & Carroll[24]
31st Legislative District: Democratic AssemblymanL. Harvey Smith did not seek re-election in 2009.Charles Mainor, a police detective fromJersey City, won the Democratic primary, defeating Ronnie Meadows and Monique Snow; putting him on a ticket with incumbent DemocratAnthony Chiappone. Since Smith's arrest on corruption charges in July, he has been under pressure from Democratic Party leaders to resign; if he does so, Mainor would probably be appointed to Smith's seat.[31] Chiappone was indicted for theft by deception, among other charges, on August 26,[32] but neither resigned nor withdrew from his re-election bid.[33] The Republican nominees in this overwhelmingly Democratic district were attorney Irene Kim Asbury and health instructor Marie Day. PolitickerNJ.com forecast these seats as "Safe Democratic."[21] Winners: Mainor & Chiappone[24] Mainor and the indicted Chiappone both won the election.
36th Legislative District: Democratic incumbentsGary Schaer andFrederick Scalera were considered Republican targets. Schaer and Scalera were challenged by the same ticket that came very close to unseating them in the 2007 election:Carlstadt school board member Don Diorio and real estate investment manager Carmen Pio Costa ofNutley. Diorio has said that if elected he would "vote independently, beholden to no political party and no special interest," while Pio Costa promised to stand up for the interests of suburbs by fighting for municipal aid reform. Schaer and Scalera have supported Governor Corzine's budget, which the GOP opposes, as well as the EnCap program which nearly lost them the election in 2007. PolitickerNJ.com ranked this pair of seats the second-most-vulnerable for Democrats.[21] Winners: Scalera & Schaer[24] Nevertheless, Schaer and Scalera were re-elected.
39th Legislative District: Republican AssemblymanJohn E. Rooney announced that he will retire after fourteen terms in office. Rooney and the party establishment both endorsed Bob Schroeder, longtimeWashington Township councilman and two-time council president, for the seat. Schroeder ran on a ticket with veteran assemblywomanCharlotte Vandervalk; they defeated John Shahdanian, a labor attorney and the municipal chairman inOld Tappan, and Michael McCarthy, the political director of astage hands' union, were running on the Democratic ticket. No Democrat has been elected by this district since 1977; PolitickerNJ.com forecast these seats as "Safe Republican."[21] Winners: Vandervalk & Schroeder[24]
County results
Congressional district results
Municipality results
1
0.0%
1
.jpg)
