1985 New Jersey gubernatorial election
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The 1985 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1985. Incumbent Republican Governor Thomas Kean won a landslide re-election against the Democratic candidate, Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro. Until 2025, Kean had the largest margin in raw votes, but still has the largest percentage margin in all New Jersey gubernatorial elections to date.[2] Kean was the first Republican to be re-elected governor since 1949, and the first Republican to ever win two four-year terms.
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November 5, 1985
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| Turnout | 52%[1] ( 12pp) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||
  Kean: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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Primary elections were held on June 4. Kean was unopposed for the Republican nomination. In the Democratic primary, Shapiro prevailed over strong competition from Senate President John F. Russo and Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson. Stephen B. Wiley and Robert Del Tufo ran competitive campaigns but finished well behind the top three.
The general election was a foregone conclusion in favor of the popular incumbent. Kean won 564 out of 567 municipalities (all except Audubon Park, Chesilhurst, and Roosevelt)[3] and a 62% majority among African-American voters,[4] a remarkable margin for a modern Republican candidate. Kean's coattails led the Republicans to win the General Assembly for the first time since the 1971 elections.[5] To date, Kean is the last Republican to win Essex and Hudson counties in a statewide election and the last candidate of any party to carry every county. Until 2021, this was the last election where the winning candidate was of the same party as the sitting president.
Republican primary
Candidates
- Thomas Kean, incumbent governor since 1982
Campaign finance
| Primary campaign finance activity | |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Spent |
| Tom Kean | $1,144,244 |
| Source: New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission[6] | |
Results
Incumbent Governor Thomas Kean was unopposed in the Republican primary election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Thomas Kean (incumbent) | 151,259 | 100.00 | |
| Total votes | 151,259 | 100.00 | ||
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Robert Del Tufo, former U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey
- Kenneth A. Gibson, mayor of Newark
- Elliot Greenspan, president of the New Jersey chapter of the National Democratic Policy Committee[8]
- John F. Russo, state senator from Toms River and Senate majority leader
- Peter Shapiro, Essex County executive and former assemblyman
- Stephen B. Wiley, former state senator from Morris Township
Declined
- James Florio, U.S. Representative from Camden and nominee for Governor in 1981
Campaign finance
| Primary campaign finance activity | |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Spent |
| Peter Shapiro | $1,161,161 |
| John Russo | $1,134,504 |
| Stephen B. Wiley | $1,058,851 |
| Kenneth Gibson | $987,835 |
| Robert Del Tufo | $737,094 |
| Elliot Greenspan | $600 |
| Source: New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission[6] | |
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Peter Shapiro | 101,243 | 31.02 | |
| Democratic | John F. Russo | 86,827 | 26.60 | |
| Democratic | Kenneth A. Gibson | 85,293 | 26.13 | |
| Democratic | Stephen B. Wiley | 27,914 | 8.55 | |
| Democratic | Robert Del Tufo | 19,742 | 6.05 | |
| Democratic | Elliot Greenspan | 5,834 | 1.65 | |
| Total votes | 326,403 | 100.00 | ||
General election
Candidates
- George M. Fishman, retired social studies teacher (Communist)[9]
- Virginia Flynn, word processor and Universal Life Church minister (Libertarian)[9]
- Rodger Headrick, real estate salesman (The True Light)[9]
- Julius Levin, apartment manager (Socialist Labor)[9]
- Thomas Kean, incumbent Governor since 1982 (Republican)
- Mark Satinoff, sheet metal worker (Socialist Workers)[9]
- Peter Shapiro, Essex County Executive and former Assemblyman (Democratic)
Campaign
Kean was riding on high popularity ratings from voters on account of the good economic situation of the state in the 1980s including a surplus in the state budget.[10]
His efforts to aid depressed cities through Urban Enterprise Zones and reaching out to groups not typically associated with the Republicans including African Americans and labor unions led to endorsements from black ministers, Coretta Scott King,[11] the AFL–CIO, and The New York Times.[12][13]
Shapiro ran on a platform of reducing car insurance rates, the state's high property taxes, and improvement of the environment but his struggles of fundraising due to New Jersey being located in two expensive media markets (New York City and Philadelphia) and Kean's momentum left his campaign little-received.[12]
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Peter Shapiro (D) |
Tom Kean (R) |
Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star-Ledger/Eagleton[14][not specific enough to verify] | August 15–25, 1985 | 586 RV | ±4.1% | 13% | 68% | 19% |
| Star-Ledger/Eagleton[14][not specific enough to verify] | Sept. 29–Oct. 8, 1985 | 982 LV | ±3.2% | 16% | 67% | 17% |
Campaign finance
| General election campaign finance activity | |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Spent |
| Tom Kean | $2,254,971 |
| Peter Shapiro | $1,980,213 |
| Source: New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission[6] | |
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Thomas Kean (incumbent) | 1,372,631 | 69.58% |  20.12 | |
| Democratic | Peter Shapiro | 578,402 | 29.32% | 20.06 | |
| Independent | Rodger Headrick | 8,537 | 0.43% | N/A | |
| Libertarian | Virginia Flynn | 4,710 | 0.24% | 0.14 | |
| Socialist Workers | Mark Satinoff | 3,703 | 0.19% | 0.12 | |
| Socialist Labor | Julius Levin | 2,740 | 0.14% | 0.05 | |
| Communist | George M. Fishman | 1,901 | 0.10% | N/A | |
| Majority | 794,402 | 40.26% | |||
| Turnout | 1,972,624 | ||||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
By county
| County | Kean % | Kean votes | Shapiro % | Shapiro votes | Other % | Other votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | 69.1% | 38,477 | 29.8% | 16,611 | 1.1% | 608 |
| Bergen | 71.5% | 181,238 | 27.8% | 70,525 | 0.6% | 1,554 |
| Burlington | 68.7% | 56,573 | 30.5% | 25,078 | 0.9% | 696 |
| Camden | 60.9% | 70,374 | 38.1% | 43,960 | 0.9% | 1,173 |
| Cape May | 74.7% | 23,331 | 24.5% | 7,665 | 0.8% | 239 |
| Cumberland | 66.4% | 21,017 | 31.8% | 10,065 | 1.8% | 570 |
| Essex | 66.9% | 121,685 | 31.2% | 56,694 | 1.8% | 3,383 |
| Gloucester | 63.6% | 35,424 | 35.3% | 19,662 | 1.2% | 640 |
| Hudson | 65.1% | 88,165 | 34.1% | 46,195 | 0.8% | 1,160 |
| Hunterdon | 75.4% | 17,875 | 22.7% | 5,388 | 1.9% | 453 |
| Mercer | 63.2% | 53,562 | 35.6% | 30,212 | 1.2% | 994 |
| Middlesex | 65.8% | 113,020 | 33.1% | 56,815 | 1.0% | 1,804 |
| Monmouth | 72.9% | 109,238 | 26.4% | 39,529 | 0.7% | 1,084 |
| Morris | 78.4% | 85,189 | 21.0% | 22,847 | 0.4% | 566 |
| Ocean | 73.7% | 90,670 | 25.1% | 30,948 | 1.2% | 1,455 |
| Passaic | 69.8% | 70,896 | 28.8% | 29,263 | 1.4% | 1,429 |
| Salem | 64.9% | 12,376 | 33.7% | 6,417 | 1.4% | 270 |
| Somerset | 75.6% | 44,502 | 23.1% | 13,601 | 1.3% | 761 |
| Sussex | 77.7% | 22,109 | 21.1% | 5,998 | 1.2% | 346 |
| Union | 73.3% | 102,411 | 25.1% | 35,060 | 1.5% | 2,187 |
| Warren | 70.4% | 14,499 | 28.5% | 5,869 | 1.0% | 219 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Notes
- Only top two candidates