The 1977 New Jersey State Senate election coincided with Brendan Byrne's re-election to a second term as Governor of New Jersey. Byrne entered the 1977 cycle as an unlikely candidate for re-election; Republicans gained 17 Assembly seats in the 1975 mid-term elections, and Byrne was exceedingly unpopular after supporting a State Income Tax; nearly three-quarters of New Jersey voters disapproved of his job performance. Byrne won renomination in the Democratic Primary with just 30% of the vote against ten challengers, and the Republican nominee, State Sen. Raymond Bateman, began the campaign with a sizable lead; some polls had him ahead by as much as 17%. Byrne and Bateman debated nine times and Byrne used the governorship to his advantage, signing bills and appearing with cabinet members all over the state, benefiting from a visit by President Carter and turning what was his biggest weakness, the income tax, into a strength. Property taxes went down because of it, people got rebates and Bateman's plan - replacing it with an increased sales tax - was widely criticised.
While Republicans had high hopes of winning back the Senate, Democrats lost just two seats, with Republicans picking up three and the lone Independent in the Senate also losing.
The state was to be divided into 40 legislative districts for the first time in 1973, with each district electing one State Senator and two members of the General Assembly. The 1977 elections was the second time the current legislative districting map was in effect. The districts were drawn first to achieve a population balance (districts were drawn to be within +/- 4% of each other), and then to be as geographically compact as possible. Many districts included parts of several counties. Some districts had more than one incumbent.
Until 1965, the New Jersey State Senate was composed of 21 Senators, with each county electing one Senator. After the U.S. Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. Sims (more commonly known as One Man, One Vote), required redistricting by state legislatures for congressional districts to keep represented populations equal, as well as requiring both houses of state legislatures to have districts drawn that contained roughly equal populations, and to perform redistricting when needed. In 1965, the Senate was increased from 21 members to 29 members, and larger counties were given more than one seat, and some smaller counties shared one or two Senators. The map was changed again in 1967, and again in 1971, as the state adjusted to the one man, one vote ruling.
Five incumbent Democratic Senators were defeated in the June primary; Democrats held four of the seats, and Republicans picked up one seat:
District 6: Alene Ammond (D-Camden) lost the Democratic Primary to Victor Pachter; Pachter lost the general election to Republican Lee Laskin, a former Assemblyman.
District 7: Edward J. Hughes (D-Burlington) lost the Democratic Primary to Charles B. Yates; Yates won the General Election.
District 19: John Fay (D-Middlesex) lost the Democratic Primary to Laurence Weiss. Weiss won the General Election.
District 31: James P. Dugan (D-Hudson) lost the Democratic Primary to Wally Sheil, the President of Hudson County Community College.
District 32: Joseph W. Tumulty (D-Hudson) lost the Democratic Primary to David Friedland, a former Assemblyman from Hudson County.
Two incumbent Democratic Senators who were denied party support for another term ran in the General Election as Independent candidates and were defeated; Democrats held both of these seats:
District 2: Joseph McGahn (D-Atlantic) lost to Democrat Steven P. Perskie, an Assemblyman from Atlantic County.
District 21: Thomas Dunn (D-Union) lost to Democrat John Gregorio, an Assemblyman from Union County and the Mayor of Linden.
Two incumbent Democratic Senators were defeated for re-election:
District 10: Herbert Buehler (D-Monmouth) lost to Republican Brian Kennedy, a former Assemblyman from Monmouth County.
District 23: Stephen Wiley (D-Morris) lost to Republican John H. Dorsey, an Assemblyman from Monmouth County.
One incumbent Independent Senator was defeated for re-election, a Democratic pickup:
District 30: Anthony Imperiale (I-Essex) was defeated by Frank E. Rodgers, the Mayor of Harrison.
Three incumbent Republican Senators did not seek re-election in 1977; Republicans held two seats and Democrats picked up one seat:
District 11: Alfred Beadleston (R-Monmouth), succeeded by S. Thomas Gagliano, the Monmouth County Surrogate.
District 16: Raymond Bateman (R-Somerset), the Republican nominee for Governor, succeeded by Republican John H. Ewing, an Assemblyman from Somerset County.
District 35: Frank Davenport (R-Passaic), succeeded by Democrat Frank X. Graves, Jr., the Mayor of Paterson.
Three incumbent Democratic Senators did not seek re-election in 1977; Democrats held both seats:
District 17: John A. Lynch, Sr. (D-Middlesex), succeeded by Democrat William J. Hamilton, the Assembly Speaker from Middlesex County.
District 20: Alexander J. Menza (D-Union), succeeded by Democrat Anthony E. Russo, the Mayor of Union Township.
District 39: Raymond Garramone (D-Bergen), who challenged Byrne in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, succeeded by Democrat Frank X. Herbert, a Bergen County Freeholder.
One Democratic Senator resigned from the Senate in 1977 after receiving a federal appointment; that seat was picked up by the Republicans:
District 14: Anne Clark Martindell (D-Mercer) was appointed U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand; she was succeeded by Republican Walter E. Foran, an Assemblyman from Hunterdon County.
Sixteen incumbent Democratic Senators were re-elected in 1977:
District 3: Raymond Zane (D-Gloucester)
District 4: James Maressa (D-Camden)
District 5: Angelo Errichetti (D-Camden)
District 9: John R. Russo (D-Ocean)
District 12: Eugene Bedell (D-Monmouth)
District 13: Joseph Merlino (D-Mercer)
District 18: Bernard Dwyer (D-Middlesex
District 26: Frank J. Dodd (D-Essex)
District 27: Carmen Orechio (D-Essex)
District 28: Martin L. Greenberg (D-Essex)
District 29: Wynona Lipman(D-Essex)
District 33: William Musto (D-Hudson)
District 34: Joseph Hirkala (D-Passaic)
District 36: Anthony Scardino (D-Bergen)
District 37: Matthew Feldman(D-Bergen)
District 38: John Skevin (D-Bergen)
Seven incumbent Republican Senators were re-elected in 1977:
District 1: James Cafiero (R-Cape May)
District 8: Barry T. Parker (R-Burlington)
District 15: Wayne Dumont, Jr. (R-Sussex)
District 22: Peter J. McDonough (R-Union)
District 24: James P. Vreeland (R-Morris)
District 25: James H. Wallwork (R-Essex)
District 40: Garrett Hagedorn (R-Bergen)
District 6: Alene Ammond lost support of the Camden Democratic organization and Senate Democrats had tossed her out of their caucus. Pachter, a former Cherry Hill Councilman, beat Ammond by just 533 votes (47%-43%).
District 7: Assemblyman Charles B. Yates beat Senator Edward J. Hughes by just 352 votes (52%-49%).
District 19: Larry Weiss beat incumbent Jack Fay by 2,686 votes (54%-46%).
District 23: Assemblyman John H. Dorsey defeated former Assemblyman Albert Merck in the Republican Senate primary by a 62%-38% margin. Merck was the heir to the Merck & Co. pharmaceutical fortune.
Districts 31 & 32: Two incumbents were defeated by wide margins in the June Democratic Primary in the aftermath of the May election for Mayor of Jersey City. James Dugan was the incumbent Democratic State Chairman, but Walter Sheil had the backing of Mayor-elect Thomas F.X. Smith. Dugan finished third in a field of four candidates, more than 8,000 votes behind Sheil. Friedland also had Smith's backing; Tumulty lost by almost 15,000 votes, 77%-23%.
Republican Pickup in District 6: With Democrats split after Ammond's primary loss, Republicans replaced the winner of the GOP primary, Addison Bradley, and replaced him with Laskin, who was a stronger General Election candidate. Laskin won by 2,374 votes (52%-48%).
Republican Pickup in District 23: Democrat Stephen B. Wiley, an unexpected '73 winner in heavily GOP Morris County, was not supposed to even run for re-election; Gov. Byrne had nominated him as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, but he was unable to take the post because of a state law that prevented legislators from taking jobs for which they had voted to raise the pay.
Democratic Pickup in District 30: Incumbent Anthony Imperiale, elected as an Independent in 1973, lost to Democrat Frank E. Rodgers, the longtime Mayor of Harrison, 48%-35%. Republican Harry J. Romeo ran third with 17%.
Democratic Pickup in District 35: Republican Frank Davenport, who beat an incumbent Democrat in 1973 by just 93 votes, did not seek re-election. Democrat Frank X. Graves, the Mayor of Paterson, defeated former Assemblyman Alfred Fontanella by a 56%-40% margin.
Two incumbents, Thomas Dunn (the Mayor of Elizabeth) in Union County, and Joseph McGahn in Atlantic County, lost party support for re-election. Rather than compete in Democratic primaries, both ran as Independents and lost. In Atlantic, Assembly Majority Leader Steven P. Perskie defeated Republican Frederick Perrone by a 48%-30% margin, with McGahn finishing third with 22%. In Union, Assemblyman John Gregorio (who was also the Mayor of Linden) defeated Dunn, 47%-32%, with Republican Robert T. Walsh finishing third with 19%.
Democrats chose Joseph P. Merlino as the Senate President and Carmen Orechio as Majority Leader; Republicans named Garrett Hagedorn as Minority Leader.
