The 2014 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

to represent the

State of New Jersey New Jersey is a state located in both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the heavily urbanized Northeast megalopolis, it is bordered to the northwest, north, and northeast ...

. Incumbent senator Cory Booker was first elected in a 2013 special election to complete the term of fellow Democrat

Frank Lautenberg Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (; January 23, 1924 June 3, 2013) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was ori ...

, who died in office. Booker defeated Jeff Bell to win a first full term. This is the last time that Somerset County voted Republican in a statewide election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...

, incumbent U.S. Senator

Withdrew

* Antonio Sabas, candidate for the U.S. Senate in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

(ran as an independent)

Declined

Rob Andrews Robert Ernest Andrews (born August 4, 1957) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative for from 1990 to 2014. The district included most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County. He is a membe ...

, U.S. Representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008 * Robert M. Gordon, state senator * Patrick J. Kennedy, former U.S. Representative from

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

* Beth Mason,

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; ) is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popula ...

City Councilwoman *

Bill Pascrell William James Pascrell Jr. (January 25, 1937 – August 21, 2024) was an American politician who was a U.S. representative from New Jersey from 1997 until his death in 2024. Pascrell was a member of the Democratic Party and a native of Paterson ...

, U.S. Representative *

Ronald Rice Ronald Rice may refer to: * Ronald L. Rice (1945–2023), American politician in the New Jersey State Senate * Ronald C. Rice (born 1968), his son, American politician in Newark, New Jersey * Ron Rice (Charles Ronald Rice, 1935–1964) was an Am ...

, state senator * Stephen M. Sweeney, president of the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232,225 (2020 figure ...

Polling

Results

Republican primary

2013 nominee Steve Lonegan announced in his concession speech that he would not run again for the seat in the 2014 race. The top-tier candidates for the Republican primary,

Thomas Kean Jr. Thomas Howard Kean Jr. ( ; born September 5, 1968) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 7th congressional district since 2023. He represented New Jersey's 21st legislative district in the New Jersey ...

and

Jay Webber James K. "Jay" Webber (born February 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and Republican politician, who has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since January 8, 2008, where he represents the 26th legislative district. Webber has served in th ...

also declined to run in early January 2014, leaving

Jon Bramnick Jon M. Bramnick (born February 24, 1953) is an American Republican Party politician who has served in the New Jersey Senate since 2022, representing the 21st legislative district. He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly, repre ...

and Michael J. Doherty as the remaining candidates with established credentials and fundraising abilities able to start a

campaign. On January 9, 2014, Brian D. Goldberg, a West Orange resident and New Jersey businessman, announced that he would seek the Republican nomination. The following week, on January 17, 2014, both Bramnick and Doherty announced that they would not be running for United States Senate. On January 27, 2014, Freehold Township businessman Richard J. "Rich" Pezzullo announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Pezzullo had previously run for the

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

in 1996 as the Conservative Party candidate. On February 4, 2014, conservative political consultant Jeff Bell announced his bid for the nomination. Bell was the nominee for the Senate in 1978, having defeated incumbent senator

Clifford Case Clifford Philip Case Jr. (April 16, 1904March 5, 1982), was an American lawyer and politician. For over 30 years, Case represented the state of New Jersey as a member of the Republican Party both in the U.S. House of Representatives (1945–19 ...

in the Republican primary and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in 1982. Ramapo College professor Murray Sabrin, who ran for the Senate in 2000 and 2008, announced another run on February 13. Former

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

agent Robert Turkavage, who ran as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2012, had declared his candidacy. However, he got stuck in a traffic jam when he attempted to turn in his petitions shortly before the deadline, and was forced to withdraw. On March 4, Richard Pezzullo won the Union County Convention on the first ballot, going on to then win the line in Camden County and Republican stronghold Monmouth County. Opponent Brian Goldberg won the party lines in conventions in Ocean, Atlantic, Cumberland, Mercer, and Somerset Counties. Murray Sabrin won only the Middlesex line, and Jeffrey Bell made no convention appearances and contested no lines. Three candidates – Brian Goldberg, Richard Pezzullo and Murray Sabrin – claimed the Burlington county line, though only Goldberg claimed to have won the line. Goldberg was given the county line with no convention in Essex, Passaic, and Hudson Counties. Robert Turkavage won the convention in Hunterdon County, but the line transferred to Goldberg after Turkavage dropped out of the race. Jeff Bell received significant support from the conservative American Principles Fund, who ran a direct mail operation that cost over $80,000, and the

National Organization for Marriage The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American non-profit political organization established to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. It was formed in 2007 specifically to pass California Propos ...

, a conservative traditional marriage group, who paid for $6,000 of automated calling.

Candidates

Declared

* Jeff Bell, political consultant, nominee for this seat in 1978 and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1982 * Brian D. Goldberg, businessman * Richard J. "Rich" Pezzullo, businessman and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

* Murray Sabrin, professor at

Ramapo College Ramapo College of New Jersey (RCNJ) is a Public university, public liberal arts college in Mahwah, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. As of the fall 2021 semester, there were a total of 5,732 students enro ...

and perennial candidate

Withdrew

* Robert Turkavage, former

agent and

candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2012

Declined

Jeffrey Chiesa Jeffrey Scott Chiesa ( ; born June 22, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from June 6 to October 30, 2013. As a member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 59th Attor ...

, former U.S. senator *

Jack Ciattarelli Giacchino Michael "Jack" Ciattarelli ( ; born December 12, 1961) is an American politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2011 to 2018, representing the 16th legislative dist ...

, state assemblyman * Roger Daley, former Middlesex County Freeholder, former judge on the

New Jersey Superior Court The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts: under Article Six of the State Consti ...

and candidate for Middlesex County Freeholder in 2013 * Alieta Eck, former president of the

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a Conservatism in the United States, politically conservative non-profit association that promotes conspiracy theories and Pseudoscience, medical misinformation, such as HIV/AIDS deni ...

, founder of the Zarephath Health Center and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2013 * Scott Garrett, U.S. Representative * Jon Hanson, former chairman of the

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) is an independent authority established by the State of New Jersey in 1971 to oversee the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Originally consisting of Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack in ...

* Chris Isola, former Marine *

, Minority Leader of the

and nominee for U.S. Senate in 2006 * Joe Kyrillos, state senator and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2012 * Susanne LaFrankie, former television news reporter * Frank LoBiondo, U.S. Representative * Steve Lonegan, state director of

Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a Libertarian conservatism, libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch family's primary pol ...

, former mayor of Bogota, candidate for governor in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2013 * Bill Palatucci, attorney and member of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

* Joe J. Plumeri, businessman *

Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Rivera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He g ...

, talk show host * David Samson, chairman of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

and former

New Jersey Attorney General The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

, state assemblyman

Results

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 24, 2014

Fundraising

Endorsements

Predictions

Polling

With Andrews
With Booker
With Bradley
With Lautenberg
With Pallone

Results

By county

By congressional district

Booker won 7 of the 12 congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.

References

External links

U.S. Senate elections in New Jersey, 2014
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Campaign contributions
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

Cory Booker for Senate

Jeff Bell for Senate
{{2014 United States elections

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Cory Booker

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

Declined

Polling

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

Declined

Results

General election

Debates

Fundraising

Endorsements

Predictions

Polling

Results

By county

By congressional district

See also

References

External links