1876 New Jersey Senate election

1876 New Jersey Senate election

←  1875 November 7, 1876 1877 →
←  1873 1879 →
6 of the 21 seats in the New Jersey State Senate 11 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Leon Abbett William J. Sewell Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Hudson County Camden County Seats before 9 12 Seats after 11 10 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 27,075 24,377 Percentage 52.59% 47.35% Seats up 2 4 Races won 4 2
Senate President before election William J. Sewell Republican Elected Senate President Leon Abbett Democratic

The 1876 New Jersey Senate election was held on November 7, 1876, to elect six of the 21 members of the New Jersey State Senate that were up for election. Each County is represented by one Senator, regardless of population.

Democrats picked up the Burlington, Hunterdon, and Middlesex county seats, while Republican candidate and future Vice President Garret Hobart flipped the Passaic County seat. This lead to a 11-10 majority for the Democrats, who would elect Leon Abbett as the next Senate President.

Summary of results by county

County	Incumbent [1]	Party		Elected Senator [2]	Party
Atlantic	Hosea F. Madden		Dem	No election
Bergen	George Dayton		Dem	No election
Burlington	Barton F. Thorn		Rep	Caleb G. Ridgway		Dem
Camden	W. J. Sewell		Rep	No election
Cape May	Richard S. Leaming		Rep	Jonathan F. Leaming		Rep
Cumberland	J. Howard Willets		Rep	No election
Essex	William H. Kirk		Rep	No election
Gloucester	Thomas B. Mathers		Rep	No election
Hudson	Leon Abbett		Dem	No election
Hunterdon	Frederic A. Potts		Rep	James N. Pidcock		Dem
Mercer	Jonathan H. Blackwell		Dem	No election
Middlesex	Levi D. Jarrard		Rep	George C. Ludlow		Dem
Monmouth	William Hendrickson		Dem	No election
Morris	John Hill		Rep	No election
Ocean	John S. Schultze		Rep	No election
Passaic	John Hopper		Dem	Garret Hobart		Rep
Salem	Chas. S. Plummer		Rep	No election
Somerset	Charles B. Moore		Dem	No election
Sussex	Samuel T. Smith		Dem	Frank M. Ward		Dem
Union	William J. Magie		Rep	No election
Warren	William Silverthorn		Dem	No election

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Burlington County, 0.63% (gain)
2. Cape May County, 4.36%
3. Middlesex County, 7.12% (gain)
4. Passaic County, 8.14% (gain)

Detailed results

Burlington

1876 general election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Caleb G. Ridgway	6,464	50.20%
	Republican	Barton F. Thorn (incumbent)	6,383	49.57%
	Temperance Party	James H. Parks	30	0.23%
Total votes			12,877	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Cape May

1876 general election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jonathan F. Leaming	995	52.18%
	Democratic	Richard D. Edmunds	912	47.82%
Total votes			1,907	100.00%
	Republican hold

Hunterdon

1876 general election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James N. Pidcock	5,497	58.99%
	Republican	Lewis H. Taylor	3,822	41.01%
Total votes			9,319	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Middlesex

1876 general election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	George C. Ludlow	5,890	53.56%
	Republican	Levi D. Jarrard (incumbent)	5,108	46.44%
Total votes			10,998	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Passaic

1876 general election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Garret Hobart	5,913	54.07%
	Democratic	Charles Inglis	5,022	45.93%
Total votes			10,935	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

Sussex

1876 general election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frank M. Ward	3,290	60.41%
	Republican	Franklin Smith	2,156	39.59%
Total votes			5,446	100.00%
	Democratic hold

References

1. "Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1876". NJ State Library.
2. "The Tribune almanac and political register 1870-1877". HathiTrust.