Socialist Party of New Jersey


The Socialist Party of New Jersey is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Socialist Party of New Jersey engages in both electoral politics and non-electoral activism. Some examples of non-electoral activism includes anti-racist actions in cooperation with Residents Against Racism, support for unions and unionization in cooperation with the Industrial Workers of the World and other unions, anti-war and anti-imperialist agitation, and support for feminism and women's rights.
In 2014, the SPNJ declared victory in a lawsuit against the State of New Jersey over the State preventing the Party from having voter registration rights. The SPNJ joins eight other political parties who have voter registration, six of which are minor/alternative parties and also had to file a lawsuit to receive voter registration abilities.
The Socialist Party of New Jersey has two active locals, a Northern New Jersey local headquartered in Montclair, and a Central New Jersey local headquartered in Red Bank.
WWW socialistparty-nj.org

Organization

The Socialist Party of New Jersey is governed by a State Executive Committee, elected to two-year terms at a state convention on odd years. The state convention elects one to two State Chairs, as well as a State Secretary and State Treasurer. Additionally, each chartered local is invited to elect one representative to sit on the SEC as a voting member.

Elected officials

The SPNJ has only one elected official within living memory, Pat Noble, who, in 2012, at the age of 19, was elected to the Red Bank Regional High School Board of Education serving from 2013 to 2016. Noble's only prior experience was working part-time at a local drug store with his highest level of education being the Monmouth County vocational school. Noble centered his campaign on making "socialist" not be a dirty word anymore, while also running on opposing merit pay for teachers, refusing access to the school to U.S. Army recruiters, introducing mandatory LGBT sex-education for all students, and opposing budget cuts. Noble was not re-elected, and made an unscessful bid to the board of chosen freeholders in Monmouth County, which he would also lose, although he was made the party Secretary from 2011 to 2015 before serving as national co-chair before returning in 2017.

Former candidates

Presidential nominee results

Since 1976, the Socialist Party USA has run a candidate for President of the United States. The party's nominee has been on the ballot in New Jersey in 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000, 2004 and 2008. The candidate who has received the highest vote total in New Jersey was Willa Kenoyer in 1988.
YearNomineeResultVotesNotes-
1900Eugene V. Debs4 of 64,611 -
1904Eugene V. Debs3 of 69,587 -
1908Eugene V. Debs3 of 610,249 -
1912Eugene V. Debs4 of 615,948 -
1916Allan L. Benson3 of 510,405 -
1920Eugene V. Debs3 of 727,141 -
1924Robert M. La Follette3 of 8108,901 Also nominated by the Progressive Party.
1928Norman Thomas3 of 64,897 -
1932Norman Thomas3 of 642,998 -
1936Norman Thomas4 of 73,931 -
1940Norman Thomas4 of 62,433 -
1944Norman Thomas5 of 53,558 -
1948Norman Thomas5 of 710,521 -
1952Darlington Hoopes3 of 88,592 -
1956Darlington HoopesN/AN/ANot on ballot; final presidential campaign of Socialist Party of America-
1976Frank Zeidler12 of 12469 First nominee of Socialist Party USA-
1980David McReynolds10 of 131,973 -
1984Sonia Johnson9 of 91,247 Also nominated by the Citizens Party.-
1988Willa Kenoyer7 of 112,587 -
1992J. Quinn BrisbenN/AN/A-
1996Mary Cal HollisN/AN/A-
2000David McReynolds7 of 91,880 -
2004Walt Brown7 of 9664 -
2008Brian Moore7 of 10699 -
2012Stewart AlexanderN/AN/A-
2016Mimi SoltysikN/AN/A-
2020Howie Hawkins4 of 814,202 Also nominated by the Green Party.-