The 1876 New Jersey Senate election was held on November 7, 1876, to elect six of the 21 members of the New Jersey Senate that were up for election. Under the 1844 New Jersey Constitution, each county was apportioned one Senate seat.

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 led to an 11-10 majority for the Democrats, who elected Leon Abbett as the next president of the Senate.

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)

Other gains

Seats that flipped party control where the margin of victory was over 10%:

  1. Hunterdon County, 17.98% (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

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_New_Jersey_Senate_election