1976 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary

Throughout the spring, Jimmy Carter began winning a series of state primaries, leading the opposition to consolidate into a "Stop Carter" movement dedicated to denying him a majority of the pledged delegates and forcing a brokered convention.^[2] In March, Governor of California Jerry Brown and U.S. Senator Frank Church entered the race and won a combined eight states. With the latest filing deadline in the nation, April 29, New Jersey became the focus of the Stop Carter movement.^[2]

Many influential party leaders sought to draft Hubert Humphrey into the New Jersey primary against Carter. The Eagleton Institute of Politics poll released on April 23 showed that Humphrey would be the first choice of sixty-one percent of New Jersey Democratic primary voters if he entered the race; without Humphrey in the race, Carter led George Wallace and Scoop Jackson with a significant plurality of the vote.^[2] Many expected Humphrey to enter the race if Carter lost the Pennsylvania primary on April 27. However, Carter won Pennsylvania by twelve percent of the vote, and Humphrey declined to run in New Jersey in a televised news conference on the day of the filing deadline.^[2] (He would ultimately decline to be drafted altogether.)

Jerry Brown, who would benefit from the uncommitted slate if Humphrey remained out of the race, also chose not to enter his name into the New Jersey primary.^[2]

In the 1972 Democratic primary, delegates had been elected on a statewide and county basis. In 1976, ten delegates were elected on a statewide slate and two delegates were elected individually from each of the state's forty districts, with the exception of the 37th district, which elected three delegates because it had the highest voter turnout in the state in 1973 and 1974.^[1][2] Each district also elected one alternate delegate.^[1] Seventeen more delegates would be chosen later by the elected delegates, apportioned by the proportional vote for each of the candidates.^[2]

• Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia
• Frank Church, U.S. senator from Idaho
• Jesse Gray, former New York state assemblyman (preference primary only)
• John S. Gonas, former chief judge of the Indiana Appellate Court (preference primary only)
• Frank Lomento, pretzel vendor and perennial candidate (preference primary only)
• Floyd L. Lunger, Mansfield Township carpenter^[3] (preference primary only)
• Ellen McCormack, chair of the New York State Right to Life Party
• Ray Rollinson, Columbia business machine salesman^[4] (preference primary only)
• Mo Udall, U.S. representative from Arizona (delegate primary only)
• George Wallace, governor of Alabama

• Fred R. Harris, U.S. senator from Oklahoma (delegate candidates in 27th district only)
• Henry M. Jackson, U.S. senator from Washington

• Jerry Brown, Governor of California
• Hubert Humphrey, U.S. senator from Minnesota and former Vice President of the United States

Prior to Humphrey's decision not to run, state party chairman and state senator James P. Dugan began organizing a slate of delegates to support his candidacy. After his decision, the slate remained uncommitted and were joined by other Carter opponents, including U.S. senator Harrison A. Williams, Middlesex County chair Nicholas Venezia, Essex County chair Harry Lerner, Peter Rodino, and Paul T. Jordan.^[2]

The uncommitted campaign recruited recognizable state and local leaders and state legislators to stand as delegate candidates, with the expectation that they would support Humphrey, Brown, or any candidate other than Carter at the convention. ^[2] The uncommitted campaign gained further momentum after Scoop Jackson withdrew on May 1, following his defeat in Pennsylvania. Many of his delegate candidates also withdrew from the race and endorsed the uncommitted slate.^[2]

The growing uncommitted slate undermined Governor Brendan Byrne, who had recruited delegate candidates for Carter and endorsed him on April 29.^[2] On May 6, Byrne stoked controversy by ordering Commissioner of Community Affairs Patricia Sheehan to fire Daniel Horgan, an uncommitted delegate candidate who had helped Dugan organize the slate.^[2] The same day, Byrne met Carter at Newark Airport and spoke on his behalf, but did not join Carter at an East Brunswick fundraiser.^[2]