1916 New Jersey gubernatorial election
The 1916 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1916. Republican nominee Walter Evans Edge defeated Democratic nominee H. Otto Wittpenn with 55.44% of the vote.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- H. Otto Wittpenn, former Mayor of Jersey City
Results
Wittpenn, who had run for Governor in 1913 but withdrew in favor of James Fairman Fielder, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.Republican primary
Candidates
- Austen Colgate, former State Senator from Essex County
- Walter Evans Edge, State Senator from Atlantic County
- George L. Record, attorney and perennial candidate from Jersey City
Campaign
During the primary, Edge was the beneficiary of a gentleman's agreement between Atlantic County Republican boss Enoch L. Johnson and Hudson County Democratic boss Frank Hague, who feared the election of Otto Wittpenn, a reformer and Hague's political rival. Historians disagree over the counters of Johnson and Hague's arrangement, but in 1916, Hague directed Democratic supporters in Hudson County to cross over and vote for Edge in the Republican primary.Results
Edge carried the state narrowly over Colgate, with Atlantic County accounting for more than his statewide margin.General election
Candidates
- John C. Butterworth
- Walter Evans Edge, State Senator from Atlantic County
- Frederick Krafft, business manager of the New Yorker Volkszeitung
- Harry Vaughan
- H. Otto Wittpenn, former Mayor of Jersey City