1951 New Jersey Senate election

1951 New Jersey Senate election

← 1949 6 November 1951 1953 →
11 out of 21 seats in the New Jersey Senate 11 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Last election 14 7 Seats after 16 5 Seat change 2 2
President of the Senate before election Alfred B. Littell Republican Elected President of the Senate Alfred B. Littell Republican

The 1951 New Jersey Senate election was held on 6 November 1951 to determine which party would control the New Jersey Senate for the following two years in the 176th New Jersey Legislature. Eleven out of 21 seats in the New Jersey Senate were up for election and the primary was held in April 1951. Prior to the election, 14 seats were held by Republicans and 7 seats were held by Democrats. The general election saw Republicans expand their majority in the State Senate by 2 seats. ^[1]

Retirements

Republicans

1. Monmouth County: J. Stanley Herbert retired.

Defeated incumbents

In primary

Republicans

1. Somerset County: Freas Hess lost renomination to Malcolm Forbes. ^[2]

In general

Democrats

1. Burlington County: James M. Davis Jr. lost re-election to Albert McCay.
2. Warren County: Robert B. Meyner lost re-election to Wayne Dumont.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Warren County, 0.20% (gain)
2. Camden County, 7.38%
3. Salem County, 7.70%

Results

Burlington County

Burlington County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Albert McCay	20,051	56.85%
	Democratic	James M. Davis Jr. (incumbent)	15,222	43.15%
Total votes			35,273	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

Camden County

Camden County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bruce A. Wallace (incumbent)	47,420	53.69%
	Democratic	George F. Neutze	40,903	46.31%
Total votes			88,323	100.0%
	Republican hold

Cape May County

Cape May County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Anthony Cafiero (incumbent)	12,279	79.86%
	Democratic	Joseph F. Hughes	3,097	20.14%
Total votes			15,376	100.0%
	Republican hold

Essex County

Essex County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Alfred C. Clapp (incumbent)	114,435	61.60%
	Democratic	John A. Pindar	67,678	36.44%
	Progressive	Ruth Lerner	3,637	1.96%
Total votes			185,750	100.0%
	Republican hold

Gloucester County

Gloucester County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Harold W. Hannold (incumbent)	20,046	71.60%
	Democratic	Joseph Mennite	7,950	28.40%
Total votes			27,996	100.0%
	Republican hold

Middlesex County

Middlesex County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bernard W. Vogel (incumbent)	49,287	60.03%
	Republican	Walter D. Fetterly	32,815	39.97%
Total votes			82,102	100.0%
	Democratic hold

Monmouth County

Monmouth County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard R. Stout	42,261	68.74%
	Democratic	Solomon Lautman	19,214	31.26%
Total votes			61,475	100.0%
	Republican hold

Salem County

Salem County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John M. Summerill Jr. (incumbent)	8,941	53.85%
	Democratic	James S. Sparks	7,663	46.15%
Total votes			16,604	100.0%
	Republican hold

Somerset County

Somerset County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Malcolm Forbes	20,474	71.59%
	Democratic	Anthony P. Kearns	8,123	28.41%
Total votes			28,597	100.0%
	Republican hold

Union County

Union County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth Hand (incumbent)	60,249	63.43%
	Democratic	J. Jerome Kaplon	34,728	36.57%
Total votes			94,977	100.0%
	Republican hold

Warren County

Warren County election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Wayne Dumont	10,929	50.10%
	Democratic	Robert B. Meyner (incumbent)	10,883	49.90%
Total votes			21,812	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

References

1. "Results of the general election" (PDF). nj.gov. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
2. "Freas Leslie Hess (1896-1959)". politicalstrangenames.blogspot.com. Retrieved 29 November 2025.