1982 United States Senate Election In New Jersey

The 1982 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 2, 1982.

The seat was effectively vacated by the resignation of Harrison Williams amid scandal in March; his appointed successor, Nicholas F. Brady, did not run.

Democratic businessman Frank Lautenberg won the seat in a major upset, defeating a large field of eight Democratic candidates and Republican Millicent Fenwick, a popular, well-known U.S. Representative. Lautenberg's campaign was largely self-funded and overcame early polling leads for Fenwick by outspending her 2-to-1 and emphasizing the persistently poor economic conditions under Republican President Ronald Reagan and the conservative Congress.

Background

The seat had been occupied by Democrat Harrison A. Williams, who resigned on March 11, 1982, after being implicated in the Abscam scandal. After Williams' resignation, Republican Governor Thomas Kean appointed Republican Nicholas F. Brady to the seat. Brady served in the Senate through the primary and general elections but did not run for the seat himself.

Republican primary

Candidates

*Millicent Fenwick, U.S. Representative from Bernardsville
* Jeff Bell, political consultant and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1978

Withdrew

*Robert J. Morris, anti-communist activist and candidate in 1960 (withdrew May 8 and remained neutral)

Declined

* Nicholas Brady, incumbent Senator (appointed April 12) and businessman

Campaign

Fenwick, an extremely popular Congresswoman, centered much of her primary campaign on her electability, name recognition, and ability to win down-ballot races for local Republican candidates. Some framed the race as a referendum on the Reagan administration's economic policies. Bell himself said, "If I lose, I think a lot of obituaries are going to be written for Reaganomics."

Bell framed himself as a strong supporter, or even architect, of President Reagan's economic platform, blaming the Federal Reserve Board's high interest rates for slow economic growth. Fenwick instead blamed the large federal budget deficit and called for cuts to public works to reduce spending, while preserving social services.

Both Bell and Fenwick supported a freeze on nuclear weapons contingent on the United States surpassing the Soviet Union's arsenal, while Morris opposed a de jure freeze, arguing that a de facto freeze already existed. Morris also supported a sharp increase in military spending to deter Soviet expansion into the Middle East and Western Hemisphere.

Morris also proposed intervention in the Falklands War to force both Argentina and the United Kingdom to withdraw, citing the Monroe Doctrine. He also challenged New York City mayor Ed Koch, then running for Governor, to swim from Manhattan to the Jersey shore to bring attention to New York City pollution.

After the first debate, Morris withdrew from the race, saying that he had made his point and did not have the funding to continue. Though he chose to remain neutral, his withdrawal was seen to benefit Bell, a fellow conservative who had also challenged Clifford Case in primary. Bell admitted he had asked Morris to withdraw, though he did not know how much effect this had.

Near the end of the primary, Bell unsuccessfully sought the endorsement of Governor Tom Kean.

Bell's campaign may have been undercut when President Reagan endorsed Fenwick's economic platform, though not the candidate herself, by blaming the federal budget deficit for high inflation.

Polling

Late in the campaign, Fenwick's aides cited her polling lead at 15 percentage points.

Results

Fenwick defeated by Bell with 54% of the vote. Bell called Fenwick at 11 P.M. on election night to concede. He maintained his interpretation that his defeat was a referendum on Reaganomics and that Fenwick's victory was a sign that voters rejected Reagan's policies.

Democratic primary

Candidates

*Angelo Bianchi, former State Banking Commissioner
*Frank Forst, former Jamesburg mayor
*Frank Lautenberg, financial executive
* Joseph A. LeFante, former U.S. Representative from Bayonne
*Andrew Maguire, former U.S. Representative from Ridgewood
*Richard D. McAleer, car leasing agent
*Howard Rosen, attorney
*Barbara Boggs Sigmund, Mercer County Freeholder
*Cyril Yannarelli, Passaic County Freeholder

Withdrew

*Donald Cresitello, former Morristown mayor (withdrew May 27 and endorsed LeFante)

The Democratic primary was previewed in The New York Times as a "free-for-all," with ten candidates entering before the April 30 filing deadline and no clear favorite.

The first candidate to enter the race was Howard Rosen, a lawyer from Millburn. Representatives Andrew Maguire and Joseph LeFante both had large bases in their home counties, Bergen and Hudson respectively. Frank Lautenberg, the CEO of ADP, had no natural political base and had never run for office, but had a well-financed media campaign and courted key endorsements.

The last major candidate to join the race was Barbara Boggs Sigmund, a Mercer County Freeholder from Princeton and the daughter of late House Majority Leader Hale Boggs and Congresswoman Lindy Boggs. Sigmund campaigned for the newly-drawn 7th congressional district for much of the spring, but joined the Senate race after being recruited by Democratic Congressmen Robert A. Roe, James J. Howard, and William J. Hughes. She announced her campaign just one hour before the filing deadline, on the anniversary of her father's birthday.

Donald Cresitello, a former mayor of Morristown, and Richard McAleer, a car-leasing manager, were also late entries.

Campaign

Lautenberg's campaign was largely self-funded, giving him an advantage in a year when Democratic fundraising was hard to come by following Williams's scandal and James Florio's narrow, expensive loss in the 1981 election for governor. His campaign spending was criticized by LeFante.

Sigmund had support from liberals and some labor elements. She ran a spirited, if brief and underfunded campaign, emphasizing her gender, arguing a woman was best suited to take on Fenwick in the fall campaign, and women's issues. At her campaign announcement, Sigmund said that a race between herself and Fenwick "would be the most exciting campaign in the country." She also cited women's perceived compassion and mediating skills as beneficial in politics. One Sigmund supporter referred to the primary race as "Snow White and the Nine Dwarfs."

Sigmund's campaign likely cost Andrew Maguire the endorsement of Mercer County Democrats and women's groups, two groups that had favored him before her entry. Sigmund may also have cut into Maguire's support with labor and Black voters. Sigmund also drew funding and organizational help from Washington.

LeFante's campaign had the key support of the Hudson County Democratic machine, which was expected to deliver him 50,000 votes, about half of what was expected to be necessary to win. Sigmund herself called him the front-runner.

Rosen, who spent $1,000,000 and campaigned vigorously, was forced to cease campaigning late in the race due to a kidney ailment.

In the final weeks, Maguire focused his campaign on North and Central Jersey, making 32 stops at train stations, shopping malls, and factories. Lautenberg and LeFante both campaigned in North Jersey, while Sigmund campaigned with Anne Clark Martindell and Claude Pepper in Trenton.

On election night, the results swung back and forth, with Lautenberg, Maguire, and LeFante each holding the lead several times. Lautenberg claimed victory at 11:40 P.M. and Maguire conceded shortly after. LeFante declined to concede immediately, saying he would wait until Wednesday to re-examine the votes.

Results

Lautenberg won a narrow victory with 26% of the vote to 23% for Maguire and 20% for LeFante. Sigmund ran fourth with 11%. Lautenberg had no strong political base, but stayed close enough to Maguire in Bergen and LeFante in Hudson to carry the state on the back of narrow victories throughout South Jersey.

Some Maguire supporters suggested that he would have won had Sigmund not joined the race; the Maguire campaign itself denied this, arguing that Sigmund pulled from all candidates.

Maguire might also have won the race if he had better ballot positioning; estimates at the time suggested 5 to 10 percent of ballots were cast for the first name on the list regardless of candidate. The only county Maguire won outside his native Bergen was Hunterdon, the only county where he had the first position. Likewise, LeFante only won his native Hudson and two counties where he had top position: Cape May and Gloucester. Richard McAleer spent no money on his campaign, but won more than half his votes in Mercer, Union, and Warren, where he led the ballot. In Union, he finished ahead of more serious candidates Sigmund and LeFante.

General election

Candidates

*Robert T. Bastien (Grassroots)
*Millicent Fenwick, U.S. Representative from Bernardsville (Republican)
*Henry Koch (Libertarian)
*Frank Lautenberg, financial executive (Democratic)
* Julius Levin (Socialist Labor)
*Claire Moriarty (Socialist Workers)
*Rose Zeidwerg Monyek (Repeal TF 807)
*Martin E. Wendelken (Independent)

Campaign

After the primary, Lautenberg's campaign got off to a rocky start, as polls put Fenwick ahead by as much as 18 points and most figured that she was assured victory in November. Even many Democrats assumed their goal was to keep her margin low enough to preserve Democratic chances for local offices. Lautenberg quipped that his opponent was "the most popular candidate in the country." But Lautenberg waged an aggressive, self-funded campaign against Fenwick, outspending her two-to-one. He emphasized partisan differences by tying Fenwick to President Ronald Reagan and Senator Strom Thurmond and attacking her personally, calling her "erratic" and "eccentric."

Lautenberg faced an early problem when he claimed that Hudson County Democratic leaders asked him to pay off Joseph A. LeFante's primary campaign debts and barred his staff from incumbent U.S. Representative Frank J. Guarini's district campaign offices until he paid. Mayor of Jersey City Gerald McCann denied that he had requested any sum and accused Lautenberg of threatening Hudson County officials by supporting primary challengers in local elections if they withheld support.

In October, the campaign intensified after Lautenberg attacked Fenwick as "a little eccentric," quoting former President Gerald Ford. Lautenberg also said she was "erratic in terms of proposals, work and programs." He denied this was an attack on her age and said he was not challenging her "fitness to serve" but her "ability to do the job." By the month's end, both candidates acknowledged the race had drawn much closer. Lautenberg compared his campaign to Mario Cuomo's in the summer New York Democratic primary, in which he trailed Ed Koch by a wide margin in all polls but won a major upset.

Fenwick continued to hammer her independence and criticized Lautenberg for distorting her record. She was particularly the Lautenberg campaign's claim that, "If Fenwick goes to the Senate, she'll support voting-rights opponent Strom Thurmond." Fenwick, a long-time member of the NAACP since before she entered politics, objected. Lautenberg responded, "Mrs. Fenwick's anger has apparently overtaken her... I think that when she comes up with that kind of a campaign after complimenting me a couple of weeks ago for my gentlemanly way of campaigning and turns now, instead of defending her record, to talk about mud slinging, shows how desperate she is." He did not withdraw the charges, but instead returned Fenwick's charge of mudslinging: "Mrs. Fenwick's campaign has taken a radical turn, changing from one where she presented herself as a public servant to one where personality became an issue."

On October 27, Lautenberg held a rally with Ted Kennedy at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark with 1,200 in attendance. Fenwick toured a housing project in East Orange and took interviews with New Jersey Network and a Spanish-language channel. On October 31, after the final debate, Lautenberg campaigned with former Vice President Walter Mondale and Second Lady Joan Mondale.

Polling

Early polling indicated a large lead for Fenwick, as much as 18 percentage points. However, this polling narrowed considerably by the end of October. Public polls showed Lautenberg had pulled even or ahead. Nevertheless, Fenwick's campaign said internal polling gave her a lead of no less than 5 percentage points and as much as 7.

An October survey by the Eagleton Institute of Politics found that six out of seven undecided voters said that Fenwick's sex made no difference and one in ten said they would be more likely to vote for Fenwick because she was a woman. Sixty percent of all voters said sex made no difference, while 26 percent said they preferred a female and 14 percent preferred a male.

Previously undecided voters

Debates

The second debate, sponsored by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and hosted by the Birchwood Manor on October 3, centered on economic issues. Fenwick criticized Lautenberg for claiming to have created 16,000 jobs, most of which she said were created by acquisition. Lautenberg denied this and said his business was created by "hard work." Lautenberg referred to Fenwick's congressional and legislative voting record as "anti-job," criticizing her vote to cute federally underwritten college loans. Fenwick criticized Lautenberg's support of an "American-made" bill that she said would cost 15,000 American jobs. The candidates also differed over the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, for which Fenwick voted. Lautenberg said the Act did too little to reduce inflation and that the appropriate way to cut unemployment was to fund technological training and fund transportation. Fenwick said that Lautenberg's criticism of spending cuts "reflects the old appetite for bigger government and more spending." Fenwick did criticize Reagan for imposing sanctions on a Soviet pipeline, expressing sympathy for "Solidarity and Polish dissidents" but saying that the sanctions "cost[] jobs in the United States."

Fenwick described Lautenberg's performance in the fifth debate as "kind of pathetic."

The sixth and final debate was held on October 31 and "reflected both the apparent closeness of the race and the acrimony that has often marked its final stages." Fenwick emphasized her image and character, and again criticized Lautenberg's campaign as outrageously deceptive. Lautenberg defending his campaign spending as "highlight ngher record" and attacked the national Republican slogan of "stay the course." He blamed her criticism on tightening polls. Jobs and the economy remained the major issue. Lautenberg contended that Fenwick supported cuts to Social Security benefits, which she denied.

Lautenberg directly defended his campaign literature tying Fenwick to Strom Thurmond, arguing that while he was "not accusing Mrs. Fenwick of anti-voting rights views," her victory would preserve the Republican Senate majority and thereby empower Thurmond. After the debate, Fenwick said she would prefer a new chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to replace Thurmond.

Endorsements

Results

Lautenberg won by 51% to 48%, in what was considered a major upset.

County results

Aftermath

Brady, who had just a few days left in his appointed term, resigned on December 27, 1982, allowing Lautenberg to take office several days before the traditional swearing-in of senators, which gave him an edge in seniority over the other freshman senators.

After her term expired in January, Fenwick retired from electoral politics. President Reagan appointed her United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and she served from 1983 to 1987.

The age issue would be used against Lautenberg in his own re-election bid in 2008.

See also

* 1982 United States Senate elections

References

{{United States elections, 1982

1982
New Jersey
1982 New Jersey elections