1997 New Jersey gubernatorial election

The 1997 New Jersey gubernatorial election was a race for Governor of New Jersey. It was held on November 4, 1997. In the Democratic primary state senator and Woodbridge Township mayor James McGreevey defeated pre-primary front-runner Rep. Rob Andrews by 9,993 votes. Although incumbent Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman had a comfortable lead in polls in the run up to the vote, on election night she prevailed over McGreevey by a narrow margin of 26,953 votes (1.05%), a similarly narrow margin to her previous election. Whitman won 46.87% of the vote, with Democratic nominee James McGreevey receiving 45.82% and Libertarian Murray Sabrin receiving 4.7%.

1997 New Jersey gubernatorial election

November 4, 1997

Nominee Christine Todd Whitman Jim McGreevey Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,133,394 1,107,968 Percentage 46.9% 45.8%

County results Whitman:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% McGreevey:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election Christine Todd Whitman Republican Elected Governor Christine Todd Whitman Republican

Republican primary

Candidates

• Christine Todd Whitman, incumbent Governor of New Jersey

Results

Republican Party primary results[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Christine Todd Whitman (incumbent)	147,731	100.00
Total votes			147,731	100.00

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Jim McGreevey, Mayor of Woodbridge Township and New Jersey State Senator
• Rob Andrews, U.S. Representative
• Michael Murphy, Morris County Prosecutor
• Frank C. Marmo, perennial candidate

Results

Democratic primary results[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jim McGreevey	148,153	39.86
	Democratic	Rob Andrews	138,160	37.17
	Democratic	Michael Murphy	79,172	21.30
	Democratic	Frank C. Marmo	6,189	1.67
Total votes			371,674	100

General election

Candidates

• James McGreevey (D), State Senator and Mayor of Woodbridge
• Murray Sabrin (L), Ramapo College professor
• Christine Todd Whitman (R), incumbent Governor

Campaign

In June, a 60-second radio ad paid for by the New Jersey Republican Party focused on the 30% income tax cut and 180,000 new jobs. Whitman ads blamed McGreevey for the state's auto insurance rates. The Whitman campaign emphasized the drops in unemployment, violent crime and welfare rolls during her term. Other ads took aim at McGreevey's record on taxes, particularly his support for former Gov. Jim Florio's (D) tax increase. The RNC criticized former Gov. Jim Florio (D) in an ad October, calling his 1990 tax increase a result of electing "liberal Democrats".

In September, McGreevey unveiled two TV ads criticizing Whitman and focusing on property taxes, auto insurance rates, pension bond debts and education standards. The Democratic National Committee also spent $1 million during the home stretch of the campaign on television ads for Democratic candidates statewide.

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Jim McGreevey (D)	Christine Todd Whitman (R)	Murray Sabrin (L)	Other	Undecided
New York Times/CBS News	October 25–29, 1997	1,082	± 3.0%	33%	44%	8%	3%	12%
Quinnipiac College	October 14–20, 1997	1,120	± 2.9%	37%	45%	8%	1%	9%
Quinnipiac College	September 8–13, 1997	865	± 3.3%	37%	49%	-	4%	10%

Issues

In October, a poll found that voters of NJ called auto insurance the most important issue in the campaign, and property taxes second.

Debates

Three debates on October 18, 21 and 24, Whitman, McGreevey and Sabrin traded barbs on their dueling auto insurance plans, property taxes, state spending and the Atlantic City tunnel, a $215 million project for which a private investor gave $55 million.

Results

New Jersey Gubernatorial Election, 1997[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Christine Todd Whitman (incumbent)	1,133,394	46.87%	2.46
	Democratic	Jim McGreevey	1,107,968	45.82%	2.47
	Libertarian	Murray Sabrin	114,172	4.72%	4.40
	Conservative	Richard J. Pezzullo	34,906	1.44%	1.24
	Green	Madelyn R. Hoffman	10,703	0.44%
	Independent	Michael Perrone, Jr.	6,805	0.28%
	Socialist Workers	Robert B. Miller	2,816	0.12%	0.07
	Socialist	Greg Pason	2,800	0.12%
	Natural Law	Lincoln Norton	2,540	0.11%
	Independent	Nuncie A. Ripa, Jr.	2,240	0.09%
Plurality			25,426	1.05%	0.01
Turnout			2,418,344
	Republican hold		Swing

Results by County

County	Whitman votes	Whitman %	McGreevey votes	McGreevey %	Other votes	Other %
Atlantic	31,364	47.3%	29,091	43.9%	5,791	8.7%
Bergen	148,934	53.3%	118,834	42.5%	11,903	4.3%
Burlington	55,523	43.5%	60,690	47.5%	11,485	9.0%
Camden	51,643	35.7%	82,028	56.7%	10,933	7.6%
Cape May	18,227	49.6%	15,395	41.9%	3,159	8.6%
Cumberland	13,651	36.5%	19,977	53.5%	3,729	10.0%
Essex	69,470	35.5%	120,429	61.2%	6,778	3.4%
Gloucester	30,314	38.4%	41,082	52.1%	7,519	9.5%
Hudson	47,468	35.6%	80,526	60.4%	5,394	4.0%
Hunterdon	24,465	59.5%	10,983	26.7%	5,698	13.8%
Mercer	44,056	40.8%	54,977	50.9%	8,905	8.3%
Middlesex	83,149	39.3%	110,354	52.2%	17,911	5.5%
Monmouth	105,535	53.9%	74,098	37.8%	16,189	8.3%
Morris	97,414	65.4%	41,296	27.7%	10,252	6.9%
Ocean	84,897	53.8%	57,944	36.7%	15,076	9.5%
Passaic	55,541	45.2%	60,256	49.1%	6,966	5.7%
Salem	10,686	49.9%	8,790	41.0%	1,950	9.1%
Somerset	51,465	57.4%	29,089	32.4%	9,154	10.2%
Sussex	25,458	60.4%	11,331	26.9%	5,332	12.7%
Union	68,721	46.6%	69,673	47.2%	9,065	6.1%
Warren	15,413	50.8%	11,125	36.7%	3,793	125

[4]

References

1. http://www.njelections.org/election-results/1997-primary-election-results-governor.pdf
2. http://www.njelections.org/election-results/1997-primary-election-results-governor.pdf
3. http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/1997-general-election-results-governor.pdf
4. https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html