The 1977 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1977. Incumbent Democratic governor Brendan Byrne defeated Republican State Senator Raymond Bateman with 55.71% of the vote.
Primary elections were held on June 7.[1] Byrne barely overcame a large field of challengers, unusual for an incumbent governor, to win the Democratic nomination with just over thirty percent of the vote. In the Republican primary, Bateman defeated Thomas Kean by a roughly 66,500 vote majority with former senator C. Robert Sarcone a distant third.
Byrne, whose popularity had plummeted after his landslide 1973 victory and his introduction of the state's first income tax, faced an uphill battle even after surviving the primary. Bateman led in all early polls, usually by a large margin. However, Byrne waged an aggressive campaign, challenging Bateman to several debates and criticizing both his voting record and his comprehensive economic proposals. In doing so, he ate into Bateman's margin in the polls, softened the unpopularity of the income tax, and flipped his own image as a weak incumbent; by November, he was considered the favorite for re-election, and he won handily.[2]
To date, this was the last time the counties of Hunterdon and Warren were carried by a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. This would also be the last time New Jersey would reelect a Democratic governor until Phil Murphy won reelection in 2021.[3] As of 2023[update], this was also the most recent New Jersey gubernatorial election in which both major party candidates are now deceased.
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^"Results of the Primary Election Held June 7, 1977" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1977. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
^Sullivan, Joseph F. (November 9, 1977). "BATEMAN IS ROUTED". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
^"One-Term and Done: The Curse that the Next Dem Governor Would Face". Insider NJ. February 28, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
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