1968 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary

1968 New Jersey Democratic presidential primaries

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Presidential delegate primary
82 Democratic National Convention delegates
Candidate Uncommitted Eugene McCarthy Home state Minnesota Delegate count 61 19 Popular vote 200,986 95,837 Percentage 62.4% 29.7%
Presidential preference primary (non-binding)
No Democratic National Convention delegates
Candidate Eugene McCarthy (write-in) Robert F. Kennedy (write-in) Hubert Humphrey (write-in) Home state Minnesota New York Minnesota Popular vote 9,906 8,603 5,578 Percentage 36.1% 31.3% 20.3%   Candidate George Wallace (write-in) Richard Nixon (write-in) Home state Alabama New York Popular vote 1,399 1,364 Percentage 5.1% 5.0%

Main article: 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries

The 1968 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary was held on June 4, 1968, in New Jersey as one of the Democratic Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1968 United States presidential election.

In the binding delegate primary, uncommitted delegates won a large majority over delegates pledged to support Eugene McCarthy. McCarthy captured nineteen delegates by narrowly winning several of the state's suburban congressional districts, including nine out of ten delegates from Bergen County. The uncommitted delegates were expected to determine internally whether to support Hubert Humphrey or Robert F. Kennedy. However, Kennedy was assassinated on the night of the primary, leading the New Jersey delegation to support Humphrey at the convention. ^[1]

In the preference primary held at the same time, McCarthy won with 36.1 percent of the vote. However, no candidate appeared on the ballot and far fewer voters participated in the write-in preference primary, which had no binding effect on the delegates. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

Primary campaign

After Lyndon B. Johnson announced on March 31 that he would not seek or accept the Democratic nomination for president, Democratic leaders in New Jersey formed an uncommitted "Regular Democratic Organization" slate. Ahead of the April 25 filing deadline, only Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy fielded an opposing slate of delegates; his chief competitors, Hubert Humphrey and Robert F. Kennedy, chose not to enter the New Jersey primary and instead focus on swaying the party leaders and uncommitted delegates once elected. ^[1]

Procedure

Five delegates were elected at-large with five more elected from each of the state's congressional districts. Delegates were elected individually, rather than as a slate, with each voter selecting up to five choices in each race. ^[2] They were permitted to run as pledged or unpledged delegates. Typically, the state and county party organizations attempted to elect unpledged slates. ^[3] In addition, New Jersey's two Democratic National Committee members were entitled to a delegate seat ex officio.

In addition to the delegate election, a nonbinding preference poll was held, as had been in every presidential year since 1912, with the exceptions of 1948, 1960 and 1964. ^[3] The preference primary was often disregarded by convention delegates. ^[3]

The filing deadline was April 25. ^[3] In 1965, the legislature rescheduled the primary date from the third Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday in June. ^[3]

Candidates

• Jesse Gray, New York City tenants' advocate
• Hubert Humphrey, Vice President of the United States and former U.S. senator from Minnesota
• Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. senator from New York and former U.S. Attorney General
• Eugene McCarthy, U.S. senator from Minnesota

Withdrew

• Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States

Results

Preference primary results

1968 New Jersey presidential preference primary ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eugene McCarthy (write-in)	9,906	36.09%
	Democratic	Robert F. Kennedy (write-in)	8,603	31.35%
	Democratic	Hubert Humphrey (write-in)	5,578	20.32%
	Democratic	George Wallace (write-in)	1,399	5.10%
	Republican	Richard Nixon (write-in)	1,364	4.97%
	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson (write-in)	380	1.38%
	Republican	Nelson Rockefeller (write-in)	176	0.64%
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (write-in)	40	0.15%
Total votes			27,446	100.00%

Delegate primary results

1968 New Jersey Democratic primary ^[2]

Delegate slate		Candidate	Delegate candidates		Delegates		Aggregate votes
			State	County	Total	Of total (%)	Total	Of total (%)
	Other/Uncommitted		10	88	61	76.25	2,070,819	67.68
	McCarthy for President	Eugene McCarthy	5	75	19	23.75	953,016	31.15
	Jesse Gray for President	Jesse Gray	5	5	0	0.0	35,773	1.17
Total			20	168	80	100.0	3,059,608	100.00
Registered voters, and turnout

Delegate primary results by contest

1968 New Jersey Democratic primary ^[2]

Contest	Delegates and popular vote				Total
	Uncommitted [a]	McCarthy	Gray	Other
Delegates at-large	5 1,004,931 (62.36%)	479,185 (29.74%)	32,817 (2.04%)	94,584 (5.87%) [b]	1,611,517
1st district	5 57,161 (71.61%)	22,657 (28.39%)	—	—	79,818
2nd district	5 33,609 (74.05%)	11,333 (24.97%)	—	446 (0.98%) [c]	45,388
3rd district	5 53,072 (66.08%)	27,246 (33.92%)	—	—	80,318
4th district	5 42,033 (52.54%)	37,657 (47.07%)	—	317 (0.39%) [d]	80,007
5th district	37,269 (47.08%)	5 41,890 (52.92%)	—	—	79,159
6th district	5 46,449 (60.09%)	30,849 (39.91%)	—	—	77,298
7th district	1 36,362 (49.30%)	4 37,397 (50.70%)	—	—	73,759
8th district	5 40,075 (65.39%)	21,210 (34.61%)	—	—	61,285
9th district	42,716 (48.50%)	5 45,360 (51.50%)	—	—	88,076
10th district	5 63,169 (69.74%)	27,411 (30.26%)	—	—	90,580
11th district	5 61,345 (62.38%)	36,240 (36.85%)	—	762 (0.77%) [e]	98,347
12th district	42,676 (47.33%)	5 47,485 (52.67%)	—	—	90,161
13th district	5 139,502 (71.87%)	26,503 (13.65%)	2,956 (1.52%)	25,137 (12.95%) [f]	194,098
14th district	5 131,553 (71.87%)	23,037 (12.59%)	—	28,449 (15.54%) [g]	183,039
15th district	5 89,202 (70.37%)	37,556 (29.63%)	—	—	126,758
District subtotal	56 916,193 (63.27%)	19 473,831 (32.72%)	2,956 (0.20%)	55,111 (3.81%)	1,448,091

1. Uncommitted totals in the county elections are the totals of the top slate of uncommitted delegate candidates. Additional delegate candidates are listed under "other".
2. All votes cast for the "United Democrats" slate led by Frank Hague Eggers Jr.
3. All votes cast for Joseph T. Wilkins, running with the slogan "Challenge '68".
4. All votes cast for Thomas D. Walsh, running with no slogan.
5. All votes cast for Robert R. Detore, running with no slogan.
6. All votes cast for the "United Democrats" slate led by Edward Muzikowski.
7. All votes cast for the "United Democrats" slate led by Edward Lombardi.

Aftermath

At the 1968 Democratic National Convention, New Jersey cast 62 votes for Humphrey and 18 for McCarthy on the first ballot. One delegate who had been pledged to McCarthy, Fairleigh Dickinson economic professor Robert S. Browne, cast his vote for Channing E. Phillips. ^[1]

References

1. Wildstein, David (July 22, 2024). "What happened in N.J. when LBJ dropped out of the race?". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
2. "Results of the Primary Election held June 4, 1968" (PDF). New Jersey Department of State.
3. "History, Conditions of the 15 Presidential Primaries". CQ Press Library. Congressional Quarterly. 1967. Retrieved July 13, 2025.