1,145,999 1,144,202 Start date November 3, 1981 | 49.46% 49.38% | |
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Winner Thomas Kean | ||
The New Jersey gubernatorial election of 1981 was a race for Governor of New Jersey held on November 3, 1981. Republican Thomas Kean narrowly defeated Democrat James Florio with 49.46% of the vote following a recount of the ballots.
Contents
Primary elections
Primary elections were held on Tuesday June 2, 1981.
Candidates
Candidates
Candidates
Major party candidates
Other candidates
Results
The results of the initial ballot counting was close with Kean leading Florio by 1,677 votes. Two television networks had actually called the race for Florio at the time. State Democrats had accused the Republican National Committee of intimidating minority voters in Newark, Camden, and Trenton by setting up the Ballot Security Task Force which sent out mailers to voters in these cities and posted armed off-duty police officers and large signs at certain precincts. A recount took place over the next month and Kean was certified the winner besting Florio by 1,797 votes out of over 2.3 million votes cast.