The 1976 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey were held on November 2, 1976, to determine who would represent the people of New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives. This election coincided with national elections for president of the United States, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. New Jersey had fifteen seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1970 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.
Despite major Republican efforts on winning back the four seats they lost to the Democratic Party in the 1974 elections, they unseated only one incumbent, Henry Helstoski, who had first been elected in 1964 but was facing a federal indictment for bribery. Freshman Democratic incumbents Jim Florio, Bill Hughes, Andrew Maguire, and Helen Stevenson Meyner were all re-elected.
In the 14th district, Democratic incumbent Dominick V. Daniels retired and was succeeded by Democratic state assemblyman Joseph A. LeFante, who defeated an unexpectedly strong challenge on the basis of his support for the new state income tax.
Overview 1976 United States House of Representatives elections in New JerseyPartyVotesPercentageCandidatesSeats+/–Democratic1,538,65854.74%15111Republican1,217,93243.33%1541Libertarian11,5220.41%100US Labor2,6070.27%60American1,7960.06%20Socialist Workers3300.01%10Independents37,9481.35%160Totals2,810,793100.00%6515
Background
In the 1974 House elections, four Republican incumbents were unseated by their Democratic opponents, giving the Democratic Party 123 majority in the New Jersey delegation. Their losses were attributed to the nationwide Watergate scandal involving the incumbent Republican administration of President Richard Nixon. Republicans hoped to gain back all four seats. Thomas Kean, the former assembly speaker and state chair for Gerald Ford's presidential campaign, publicly declared, "If we don't defeat the Democratic incumbents at this time, the record shows that they will be nearly impossible to defeat later on." While the 1st district, which had elected Jim Florio, was considered a swing seat, the other four districts, the 2nd, 7th, and particularly the 13th, were considered Republican districts.
The Democratic incumbents ran on the back of Senator Harrison A. Williams, who was up for re-election to a fourth term and had regained popularity for his work as chair of the Senate Committee on Labor and Welfare, where he had authored successful legislation to increase the national minimum wage, provide mass transportation subsidies, and protect employee pensions. He was expected to win his race by a wide margin.
County line In 1975, a new state law restored the right of county party organizations to endorse candidates in primary elections. This practice, known as the "county line," had been abolished during the governorship of Woodrow Wilson as a way to curb the influence of party bosses.
District 1
Incumbent Democrat James Florio won. The district included Gloucester County and parts of Camden County.
Democratic primary Candidates James Florio, incumbent Representative since 1975
Results
Republican primary Candidates Joseph I. McCullough Jr., mayor of Haddon Heights
Results
General election Candidates Robert Bowen (Labor) James Florio, incumbent Representative since 1975 (Republican) Joseph I. McCullough Jr., mayor of Haddon Heights (Republican) Thomas C. Sloan (New Majority) Vernon A. Smith (Libertarian)
Campaign Despite the fact that the district had voted for Richard Nixon by a margin of over 60,000 in 1972, Jim Florio was considered the heavy favorite for re-election to a second term in office. The district had a growing popular of Italian Americans, including Florio himself, and was dominated by manufacturing and industrial labor in Camden and its surroundings.
Haddon Heights mayor Joseph McCullough, ran an aggressive and ambitious door-to-door campaign, knocking on 30,000 doors from April through October and wearing out seven pairs of shoes. He publicly speculated that "to win rather substantially in a traditionally Republican district... might project somebody onto the state scene." However, Florio remained extremely popular within the district and began his re-election campaign almost as soon as he won the seat in 1974, establishing district offices in both Camden and Gloucester counties and focusing on constituent services to raise his profile. During his first term, he succeeded in getting a $75 million Veterans Administration grant for a Camden hospital and passing legislation to qualify farmers for disaster relief loans following flooding. He had the uniform support of organized labor, including the New Jersey Education Association. McCullough admitted in October than his only endorsement was from the National Alliance of Senior Citizens, which Florio challenged as an "phony, letterhead organization" masquerading as the National Council of Senior Citizens.
Despite polling suggesting that Florio had an easy lead, he ran a full-time campaign in October, with scheduled appearances throughout the district from sunrise to midnight. The candidates participated in multiple debates, at which McCullough challenged Florio for accepting campaign contributions from special interests. While Florio admitted to accepting permitted donations from labor unions and businesses, he also pointed to his vote in favor of public financing for campaigns and said he would do so again if re-elected.
Results
District 2
Incumbent William J. Hughes won. This district, the largest in South Jersey, included all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties and parts of Burlington and Ocean counties.
Democratic primary
Candidates Solveig I. Henschen, Bayville resident William J. Hughes, incumbent Representative since 1975
Results
Republican primary Candidates Robert F. Dufala, nursery school owner and member of the John Birch Society James R. Hurley, assemblyman from Millville
Campaign Dufala had the support of local Republican organizations.
Results
Aftermath After the primary, Dufala was arrested and indicted for conspiring to assassinate vice president Nelson Rockefeller with a cyanide bullet. His attorneys claimed he was entrapped by an undercover Secret Service agent and had participated out of fear for his life, because the agent claimed to be a veteran political assassin in Vietnam and brandished a weapon. After his first trial ended in a hung jury, Dufala made a surprise guilty plea at his second trial. In November 1977, Judge Stanley Brotman gave him a suspended sentence of probation and court-mandated psychiatry.
General election Candidates James R. Hurley, assemblyman from Millville (Republican) William J. Hughes, incumbent Representative since 1975 (Democratic)
Campaign Hughes sought to become the first Democratic incumbent to be re-elected from this district since the New Deal era. His opponent, James R. Hurley, had not lost an election in his decade-long political career, which began when he was elected a Cumberland County freeholder. Despite the district's fundamentally conservative lean, many of the district's voters were registered as independents and the region struggled with unemployment, particularly outside of tourist season.
Hughes, a former prosecutor, emphasized his support for the death penalty and opposition to government spending, including the use of public works as employment programs. His first term in Congress focused on supporting protections for Jersey Shore resort businesses against oil drilling and pollution, for which he was recognized by the Federation of Independent Businesses.
Hurley challenged Hughes as an unproductive legislator. Although the incumbent was the only Democratic candidate in the state without an endorsement from the AFL-CIO, the union also declined to support Hurley, and many union locals sided with Hughes. Hurley emphasized his opposition in the General Assembly to the new state income tax and his support for the legalization of casino gambling in Atlantic City. Hughes countered that these were state rather than federal issues and pointed out that he had supported casino gambling in 1974, when Hurley was opposed. He accused Hurley of "flip-flopping" on gambling to run in a district that included Atlantic City.
Results
District 3
Incumbent Democrat James J. Howard won.
This district included parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Democratic primary Candidates James J. Howard, incumbent Representative since 1965
Results
Republican primary Candidates Joseph L. Heimbold Jr., Monmouth Beach sales executive Ralph A. Siciliano, member of the Middletown township committee
Campaign Heimbold ran as a conservative.
Results
General election Candidates James J. Howard, incumbent Representative since 1965 (Democratic) Ralph A. Siciliano, member of the Middletown township committee (Republican) Walter M. Swirsky, sales consultant and executive secretary of the New Jersey Libertarian Party (Libertarian)
Campaign Siciliano ran an uphill campaign against Howard, who had won re-election several times despite the district's strong Republican lean in most other elections. In an effort to break Howard's hold on the district, Siciliano focused his effort on the approximately 30,000 newly registered voters in the district.
Local issues played a role in the campaign, particularly problems with offshore pollution and oil drilling and a plan to move the Army electronics command from Fort Monmouth to the Washington, D.C. area. Although Siciliano attacked Howard for failing to prevent the earlier transfer of the Army Signal School out of the state, Eatontown mayor Joseph Frankel, who led a "Save the Fort" campaign, credited Howard with opposing the move effectively in Congress. Siciliano also cited the American Security Council, which had given Howard a rating of 0 on military spending. Howard claimed he had voted for all twenty-four defense and military spending bills during his term but had opposed legislation which would have expanded American involvement in the Vietnam War and Cambodia. He also noted that in response to the loss of the Signal School, he had secured the relocation of the Army Procurement Office from Philadelphia, resulting in a net loss of only about 100 jobs.
Results
District 4
Incumbent Democrat Frank Thompson won. This district, in Central Jersey, consisted of parts of Burlington, Mercer, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties.
Democratic primary Candidates Frank Thompson, incumbent Representative since 1955
Results
Republican primary Candidates Joseph S. Indyk, farmer and former mayor of Monroe Township
Results
General election Candidates John Val Jean Mahalchik, populist gadfly and perennial candidate (Regular Democracy) Elliot Greenspan (Labor) Joseph S. Indyk, farmer and former mayor of Monroe Township (Republican) Jack Moyers (Libertarian) Frank Thompson, incumbent Representative since 1955 (Democratic)
Results
District 5
Incumbent Millicent Fenwick won. This district included Somerset County and parts of Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, and Morris counties.
Republican primary Candidates Millicent Fenwick, incumbent Representative since 1975
Results
Democratic primary Candidates Frank R. Nero, Somerset County freeholder and former member of the North Plainfield borough council
Results
General election Candidates John Giammarco, candidate for this district in 1974 (Pro-Life) Millicent Fenwick, incumbent Representative since 1975 (Republican) Frank R. Nero, Somerset County freeholder and former member of the North Plainfield borough council (Democratic) Jane T. Rehmke, laboratory technician and treasurer of the New Jersey Libertarian Party (Libertarian) Joseph R. Viola Jr. (Restoration)
Results
District 6