1971 New Jersey Senate election


The 1971 New Jersey State Senate election was the mid-term election of Republican William Cahill's term as Governor of New Jersey. Democrats picked up seven Senate seats. Democrats flipped Districts 2, 3B, 11B, 11D, 11E, 14A, 14B, and 14C. Republicans flipped District 6A.

Background

Reapportioning

Legislative districts were redrawn by a 10-member bipartisan New Jersey Apportionment Commission to reflect population changes following the 1970 U.S. Census. Senators generally ran At-Large countywide.
Until 1965, the New Jersey State Senate was composed of 21 senators with each county electing one senator. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims required legislative districts to be approximately equal in population. In 1965, the New Jersey Senate was increased to 29 members, with larger counties given multiple seats and some smaller counties sharing one or two senators.
The map was changed again in 1967, and again in 1971, as the state adjusted to the one man, one vote ruling. For the 1971 election, two seats were eliminated in District 11 and District 12. They were replaced by two new seats in the single-member District 4C and District 5. District 6 also switched from electing its senators at-large to electing them from two single-member districts because it became composed of more than one county.
The new districts were divided as follows:
DistrictCounties#
1Cape May and Cumberland1
2Atlantic1
3ASalem and Gloucester 1
3BGloucester and Camden 1
3CCamden 1
4AOcean 1
4BBurlington and Ocean 1
4CBurlington 1
5Monmouth3
6AHunterdon and Mercer 1
6BMercer 1
7Middlesex3
8Somerset1
9Union3
10Morris2
11Essex5
12Hudson3
13Bergen5
14Passaic3
15Warren and Sussex1

Incumbents not running for re-election

Democratic

Republican

Incumbents defeated

Two incumbent Republican senators were defeated for re-election:
One incumbent Republican Senator who was denied party support for another term ran in the general election as an Independent candidate and was defeated; Republicans held this seat:

Open Seats

Sixteen incumbents did not seek re-election. Thirteen incumbent Republican senators did not seek re-election in 1971, and Democrats won six of those seats:
One incumbent Republican Senator was elected to Congress in 1970 and resigned his State Senate seat in January 1971 to take his seats in the U.S. House of Representatives:
  • Fourth District, 4B: Edwin B. Forsythe, succeeded by Republican Assembly Speaker Barry T. Parker.
One incumbent Republican Senator resigned in 1970 to become a Judge. His seat was won in a November 1971 Special Election by a Democrat, but Republicans held the seat in the November 1971 General Election for a full term:
  • Ninth District: Nicholas LaCorte, succeeded by Jerry Fitzgerald English from November 1971 to January 1972, and then by Jerome Epstein.
One incumbent Democratic Senator was defeated for renomination in the June primary and Democrats held that seat:
Two incumbent Democratic senators did not seek re-election in 1971. Democrats won one seat and Republicans won one seat:

Summary of results by State Senate District

Close races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:
  1. '
  2. '
  3. '
  4. gain
  5. '
  6. '
  7. gain
  8. '
  9. '
  10. '
  11. '
  12. '
  13. gain
  14. '
  15. '
  16. '
  17. '
  19. gain
  20. gain
  21. ''' gain'''