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Lautenberg: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Forrester: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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Elections in New Jersey |
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The 2002 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 5, 2002. Former U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg was elected to an open seat over Republican businessman Doug Forrester after incumbent Senator Robert Torricelli dropped out of the race on September 30, facing ethical misconduct allegations, a formal admonishment by the U.S. Senate, and falling poll numbers against Forrester.
Primary elections were held on June 4. Torricelli was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, while Forrester won a competitive Republican primary over State Senators Diane Allen and John Matheussen. Another leading candidate, Essex County Executive James Treffinger, dropped out of the race on April 22 after facing a federal criminal investigation for bribery.
In the general election Torricelli, who was the target of a federal ethics probe, steadily began to trail Forrester in polling and eventually dropped out of the race in late September. The New Jersey Democratic Party sought to replace him on the general election ballot with Frank Lautenberg, who held the state's other Senate seat from 1982 to 2001. After legal proceedings aimed at forcing Torricelli's name to remain on the ballot were filed by Forrester's campaign, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Lautenberg could be placed on the ballot.
On election day, Lautenberg defeated Forrester by a 9.9% margin, winning a fourth, non-consecutive term as a U.S. senator. At 78, Lautenberg became the oldest non-incumbent to win a Senate election. [1] Lautenberg became the state's junior senator for the second time when he was sworn in on January 3, 2003. (Jon Corzine, who was elected to Lautenberg's old Senate seat, became the senior senator in 2003 as Lautenberg's previous tenure in the Senate was not counted as he was starting over.)
Although Torricelli would later withdraw from the race, he was unopposed for the Democratic nomination on June 4.
Many Republicans were eager to take on Torricelli, who was the subject of a federal investigation into his fundraising practices in his 1996 election.
James Treffinger became the first candidate to officially announce his campaign in November 2001, shortly after the state elections which ended a decade of Republican rule. Much speculation at the time revolved around popular former Governor Thomas Kean, whom party chair Joe Kyrillos referred to as a "star player." [4]
At the April 8 filing deadline, the two trailing candidates, Assemblyman Guy Gregg and attorney Robert Ray, dropped out of the race. Gregg endorsed Treffinger, who seemingly became the front-runner for the nomination. [3]
However, Treffinger's campaign collapsed less than two weeks later, when his office was raided by federal agents as part of an investigation into his acceptance of campaign contributions in exchange for public contracts. Many state and national Republicans withdrew their support from Treffinger. Four days after the raid, he withdrew from the race. [5] [6]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Doug Forrester | 97,275 | 44.56% | |
Republican | Diane Allen | 80,476 | 36.87% | |
Republican | John J. Matheussen | 40,549 | 18.58% | |
Total votes | 218,300 | 100.00% |
Treffinger was arrested in October and indicted by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie on twenty counts of extortion, fraud, obstructing a federal investigation, and conspiracy. [8] He pleaded guilty in May 2003 to one count of obstruction and one count of mail fraud. [9] [10]
On July 30, the Senate Ethics Committee issued a letter which "severely admonished" Torricelli for failing to disclose gifts he received and accepted from a donor. [11] In late September, evidence was revealed about the relationship between Toricelli and the donor, and the donor was interviewed on WNBC in a segment dubbed "The Prisoner and the Politician". [12] Torricelli dropped out of the race on September 30 due to ethical problems and poor poll numbers against Forrester, a relatively unknown opponent. [13] Various candidates were sought after to replace Toricelli, including former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, Congressman Bob Menendez and Congressman Frank Pallone. [12] The New Jersey Democratic Party eventually chose former U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg as the party's candidate. In the case of The New Jersey Democratic Party v. Samson, 175 N.J. 178 (2002), Forrester sued to stop Democratic Party efforts to have Lautenberg replace Torricelli. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously on October 2 that the party could switch Lautenberg's name in for Sen. Torricelli's on the ballot. [14] Forrester received the endorsement of President George W. Bush. [15]
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
Sabato's Crystal Ball [16] | Lean D | November 4, 2002 |
![]() | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size [lower-alpha 2] | Margin of error | Bob Torricelli (D) | Doug Forrester (R) | Other / Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quinnipiac [17] | March 2002 | 1,005 RV | ±3.1% | 51% | 27% | 21% |
Quinnipiac [18] | June 2002 | ? | ? | 44% | 36% | 20% |
Rutgers-Eagleton [19] | June 5–9, 2002 | 626 RV | ±4.0% | 43% | 29% | 21% |
Quinnipiac [18] | July 31–August 6, 2002 | 978 RV | ±3.3% | 37% | 37% | 26% |
Torricelli internal [18] | August 2002 | ? LV | ? | 40% | 40% | 20% |
Forrester internal [18] | August 19, 2002 | ? LV | ? | 35% | 47% | 18% |
SurveyUSA [18] | August 21, 2002 | 978 RV | ±3.3% | 37% | 48% | 15% |
Rutgers-Eagleton [19] | September 3–8, 2002 | 537 LV | ±4.0% | 37% | 33% | 30% |
Rutgers-Eagleton [19] | September 18–25, 2002 | 547 RV | 34% | 41% | 26% | |
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size [lower-alpha 2] | Margin of error | Frank Lautenberg (D) | Doug Forrester (R) | Other / Undecided |
Rutgers-Eagleton [19] | October 3–6, 2002 | 801 A | ±4.0% | 46% | 40% | 14% |
530 LV | ±4.5% | 44% | 44% | 12% | ||
Rutgers-Eagleton [19] | October 13–17, 2002 | 793 RV | ±3.5% | 44% | 35% | 22% |
Quinnipiac [20] | October 16–20, 2002 | 603 LV | ±4.0% | 52% | 43% | 5% |
NYT–CBS News [21] | October 19–24, 2002 | 772 RV | ±? | 46% | 39% | 21% [lower-alpha 3] |
SurveyUSA [22] | October 27–29, 2002 | 732 (LV) | ± 3.7% | 51% | 41% | 8% |
Rutgers-Eagleton [19] | October 27–31, 2002 | 909 RV | ±3.5% | 51% | 34% | 14% |
458 LV | ±3.5% | 52% | 40% | 8% | ||
Research 2000/ The Record [23] | November 1–2, 2002 | 600 LV | ±4.0% | 51% | 42% | 8% |
with Diane Allen
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Robert Torricelli (D) | Diane Allen (R) | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quinnipiac [17] | March 2002 | 1,005 RV | ±3.1% | 49% | 30% | 21% |
with Guy Gregg
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Robert Torricelli (D) | Guy Gregg (R) | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quinnipiac [17] | March 2002 | 1,005 RV | ±3.1% | 52% | 26% | 22% |
with John Mattheussen
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Robert Torricelli (D) | John Mattheussen (R) | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quinnipiac [17] | March 2002 | 1,005 RV | ±3.1% | 52% | 28% | 20% |
with James Treffinger
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Robert Torricelli (D) | James Treffinger (R) | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quinnipiac [17] | March 2002 | 1,005 RV | ±3.1% | 51% | 27% | 22% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Frank Lautenberg | 1,138,193 | 53.88% | ||
Republican | Doug Forrester | 928,439 | 43.95% | ||
Green | Ted Glick | 24,308 | 1.15% | ||
Libertarian | Elizabeth Macron | 12,558 | 0.59% | ||
Conservative | Norman E. Wahner | 6,404 | 0.30% | ||
Socialist | Greg Pason | 2,702 | 0.13% | ||
Total votes | 2,112,604 | 100.00% | |||
Democratic hold |
Frank Raleigh Lautenberg was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was originally from Paterson, New Jersey.
Robert Guy Torricelli is an American attorney and former politician. A Democrat, Torricelli served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 9th district from 1983 to 1997 and as a United States senator from New Jersey from 1997 to 2003.
The 2002 United States Senate elections featured a series of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Republican Party, which gained two seats and thus a narrow majority from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. The Senate seats up for election, known as class 2 Senate seats, were last up for regular election in 1996. The election cycle was held on November 5, 2002, almost 14 months after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Richard Alan Zimmer is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and in the United States House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 1996 and 2008. In March 2010, he was appointed by Governor Chris Christie to head the New Jersey Privatization Task Force.
The 1982 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 1982. They were elections for the United States Senate following Republican gains in 1980. The 33 Senate seats of Class 1 were up for election in 1982. A total of four seats changed hands between parties, with Democrats winning seats in New Jersey and New Mexico, and Republicans taking seats in Nevada and the seat of the lone independent, Senator Harry Byrd Jr., in Virginia. Democrats made a net gain of one seat bringing them to 46 seats, while Republicans stayed at 54 seats for a majority. However, the Democratic gain in New Jersey replaced a Republican that had been appointed earlier in the year. Liberal Republicans senators in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont held onto their seats, keeping the Senate in Republican hands.
Douglas Robert Forrester is an American businessman and politician from New Jersey. He was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from New Jersey in 2002, and the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 2005. Forrester was defeated by his two Democratic opponents, Frank Lautenberg and then-U.S. Senator Jon Corzine, respectively. Forrester currently serves as the president of Integrity Health, a health benefits management firm.
Diane B. Allen is an American politician and television journalist. A member of the Republican Party, she represented the 7th legislative district in the New Jersey Assembly from 1996 to 1998 and New Jersey Senate from 1998 to 2018. Allen was the senate majority whip from 1998 to 2001, deputy Republican conference leader from 2002 to 2003, and later deputy minority leader. In 2002, she was an unsuccessful candidate for United States Senate, finishing second in the Republican primary.
Guy R. Gregg is an American Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1992 to 2008, where he represented the 24th Legislative District. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator in 2002.
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