The 1920 New Jersey Republican presidential primary was held on April 27, 1920, in New Jersey as one of the Republican Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1920 United States presidential election. Delegates to the 1920 Republican National Convention were elected from each of the state's congressional districts, along with four delegates at-large.
The majority of the elected delegates were committed to supporting Leonard Wood, with a large minority supporting Hiram Johnson.
In the non-binding presidential preference primary held simultaneously, Wood narrowly defeated Johnson.
Background
Procedure
New Jersey was allocated 28 total delegates to the 1920 Republican National Convention. Four delegates and four alternate delegates were elected at-large, and two delegates were elected from each of the state's twelve congressional districts, along with two alternates.[1] Delegates were given the choice of pledging support to a particular candidate or running as uncommitted delegates.
The state also held a presidential preference primary, which was non-binding,[1] although two district delegate candidates campaigned on supporting the winner of the statewide primary.
Campaign
Warren G. Harding withdrew from the New Jersey ballot on April 2. Campaign manager Harry Daugherty cited insufficient funds and the high expense of contesting the state.[2]
Wood fielded delegate candidates in all twelve districts, while Johnson only ran candidates in nine districts. Sylvester L. Corrothers and Isaac H. Nuttor ran as unpledged anti-organization delegates at-large to protest the Republicans' exclusion of any Black candidates from their delegate slate.[3]
Endorsements
Leonard Wood
- Federal executive branch officials
- John W. Griggs, former U.S. Attorney General and governor of New Jersey (ran for delegate at-large)[3]
- State executive branch officials
- Edward C. Stokes, former governor of New Jersey and chair of the New Jersey Republican Party (ran for delegate at-large)[3]
- U.S. representatives
- Richard W. Parker, U.S. representative from Newark (ran for district delegate)[3]
- State legislators
- William H. Bright, state senator for Cape May County (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Everett Colby, former state senator for Essex County and Progressive nominee for governor in 1913 (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Austen Colgate, former state senator for Essex County and candidate for governor in 1916 (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Edward D. Duffield, businessman and former state assemblyman from Essex County (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Ogden H. Hammond, former state assemblyman from Somerset County (ran for district delegate)[3]
- William Nelson Runyon, state senator for Union County and former acting governor (ran for delegate at-large)[3]
- Local officials
- Henry Meade Doremus, former mayor of Newark (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Thomas Lynch Raymond, former mayor of Newark (ran for delegate at-large)[3]
- Francis F. Patterson Jr., Camden County clerk and candidate for U.S. House of Representatives (ran for district delegate)[3]
Uncommitted
- U.S. senators
- Walter E. Edge, U.S. senator since 1919 and former governor (ran for delegate at-large)[3]
- Joseph S. Frelinghuysen Sr., U.S. senator since 1917 (ran for delegate at-large)[3]
- State legislators
- Emerson Lewis Richards, former state senator for Atlantic County (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Local officials
- Arthur F. Foran, former mayor of Flemington (ran for district delegate)[3]
- Individuals
- Walter G. Alexander, Orange physician and candidate for General Assembly in 1912 and 1919 (ran for district delegate)[3]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Leonard Wood | 52,909 | 50.15% | |
| Republican | Hiram Johnson | 51,685 | 48.99% | |
| Republican | Herbert Hoover | 900 | 0.85% | |
| Total votes | 105,494 | 100.00% | ||
Delegate primary results
| Candidate | Delegate candidates[3] | Delegates | Aggregate votes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide | District | Total | Of total (%) |
Total | Of total (%) | ||
| Leonard Wood | 4 | 24 | 16 | 57.14 | 294,917 | 47.66 | |
| Uncommitted | 4 | 9[a] | 3 | 10.71 | 161,787 | 26.15 | |
| Hiram Johnson | 2 | 18 | 9 | 32.14 | 160,996 | 26.0 | |
| Warren G. Harding | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 436 | 0.01 | |
| Total | 10 | 53 | 28 | 100.0 | 618,782 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters, and turnout | |||||||
By district
| Contest | Delegates and popular vote | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncommitted | Wood | Johnson | Harding | Total | |
| At-large | 2 140,480 (33.7%) |
2 188,062 (45.2%) |
87,525 (21.0%) |
– | 416,067 |
| 1st district | 1 7,881 (47.7%) |
1 8,657 (52.3%) |
– | – | 16,538 |
| 2nd district | 10,318 (49.7%) |
2 10,442 (50.3%) |
– | – | 20,760 |
| 3rd district | – | 9,789 (49.1%) |
2 10,154 (50.9%) |
– | 19,943 |
| 4th district | 3,108 (22.1%) |
2 10,973 (77.9%) |
– | – | 14,081 |
| 5th district | – | 2 12,703 (59.7%) |
8,585 (40.3%) |
– | 21,288 |
| 6th district | – | 2 9,377 (52.9%) |
8,365 (47.1%) |
– | 17,742 |
| 7th district | – | 9,951 (44.0%) |
2 12,690 (56.0%) |
– | 22,641 |
| 8th district | – | 1 9,780 (49.8%) |
1 9,855 (50.2%) |
– | 19,635 |
| 9th district | 742 (5.4%) |
2 7,289 (52.7%) |
5,791 (41.9%) |
– | 13,822 |
| 10th district | – | 2 10,926 (58.4%) |
7,793 (41.6%) |
– | 18,719 |
| 11th district | 444 (6.3%) |
1,935 (27.4%) |
2 4,689 (66.3%) |
– | 7,068 |
| 12th district | – | 4,493 (42.9%) |
2 5,549 (53.0%) |
436 (4.2%) |
10,478 |
| Total | 3 161,787 (26.1%) |
16 294,917 (47.7%) |
9 160,996 (26.0%) |
436 (0.01%) |
618,782 |
By candidate
| District primary results[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contest | Pledge | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| At-large | Uncommitted | Joseph S. Frelinghuysen | 61,419 | 14.76 | |
| Uncommitted | Walter E. Edge | 60,955 | 14.65 | ||
| Wood | Edward C. Stokes | 51,995 | 12.50 | ||
| Wood | William N. Runyon | 47,393 | 11.39 | ||
| Wood | Thomas L. Raymond | 45,726 | 10.99 | ||
| Johnson | Mumford L. Ballard | 43,892 | 10.55 | ||
| Johnson | Thomas R. Layden | 43,633 | 10.49 | ||
| Wood | John W. Griggs | 42,948 | 10.32 | ||
| Uncommitted | Isaac H. Nuttor | 9,644 | 2.32 | ||
| Uncommitted | Sylvester L. Corrothers | 8,462 | 2.03 | ||
| 1st district | Wood | Francis F. Patterson Jr. | 8,657 | 52.35 | |
| Uncommitted | Edward L. Sturgess | 7,881 | 47.65 | ||
| 2nd district | Wood | William H. Bright | 5,409 | 26.05 | |
| Wood | William W. Worrell | 5,033 | 24.24 | ||
| Uncommitted | Emerson L. Richards | 4,267 | 20.55 | ||
| Uncommitted | F. Wallis Armstrong | 3,336 | 16.07 | ||
| Uncommitted | James A. Lightfoot | 2,715 | 13.08 | ||
| 3rd district | Johnson | William M. Thompson | 5,207 | 26.11 | |
| Johnson | William H. Kline | 4,947 | 24.81 | ||
| Wood | Ford Garretson | 3,933 | 19.72 | ||
| Wood | Lewis S. Thompson | 3,796 | 19.03 | ||
| Wood | David C. Rose | 2,060 | 10.33 | ||
| 4th district | Uncommitted | William P. Howe | 4,065 | 28.87 | |
| Uncommitted | Arthur F. Foran | 3,723 | 26.44 | ||
| Uncommitted | Walter Firth Jr. | 3,185 | 22.62 | ||
| Wood | Ogden H. Hammond | 3,108 | 22.07 | ||
| 5th district | Wood | J. Mortimer Townley | 6,416 | 30.14 | |
| Wood | Charles W. Ennis | 6,287 | 29.53 | ||
| Johnson | W. Edmen Clum | 4,300 | 20.20 | ||
| Johnson | Allan Trimble | 4,285 | 20.13 | ||
| 6th district | Wood | Daniel E. Pomeroy | 4,691 | 26.44 | |
| Wood | Nathan H. Hart | 4,686 | 26.41 | ||
| Johnson | William H. MacKay | 4,274 | 24.09 | ||
| Johnson | Charles H. Wagner | 4,091 | 23.06 | ||
| 7th district | Johnson | Joseph W. Hardy | 6,408 | 28.30 | |
| Johnson | Colin R. Wise | 6,282 | 27.75 | ||
| Wood | William V. Watson | 5,079 | 22.43 | ||
| Wood | William I. Lewis | 4,872 | 21.52 | ||
| 8th district | Johnson | Arthur S. Archibold | 5,132 | 26.14 | |
| Wood | Henry M. Doremus | 5,029 | 25.61 | ||
| Wood | William H. Marzahl | 4,751 | 24.20 | ||
| Johnson | William A. Taber | 4,723 | 24.05 | ||
| 9th district | Wood | Austen Colgate | 3,723 | 26.94 | |
| Wood | Richard Wayne Parker | 3,566 | 25.80 | ||
| Johnson | Adrian G. Chamberlain | 2,898 | 20.97 | ||
| Johnson | Thomas W. Smith | 2,893 | 20.93 | ||
| Uncommitted | Walter G. Alexander | 742 | 5.37 | ||
| 10th district | Wood | Edward D. Duffield | 4,666 | 24.93 | |
| Wood | William L. Glorieux | 4,005 | 21.40 | ||
| Johnson | John Mitchell | 3,917 | 20.93 | ||
| Johnson | Joseph Budd | 3,876 | 20.71 | ||
| Wood | Everett Colby | 2,255 | 12.05 | ||
| 11th district | Johnson | William P. Verdon | 2,384 | 33.73 | |
| Johnson | Philip Melcher | 2,305 | 32.61 | ||
| Wood | Harlan Besson | 992 | 14.04 | ||
| Wood | William G. Weller | 943 | 13.34 | ||
| Uncommitted[b] | Edward C. Brennan | 263 | 3.72 | ||
| Uncommitted[b] | William R. Ransom | 181 | 2.56 | ||
| 12th district | Johnson | Richard Doherty | 2,812 | 26.84 | |
| Johnson | Thomas S. Vieron | 2,737 | 26.12 | ||
| Wood | Robert Carey | 2,247 | 21.44 | ||
| Wood | Howard R. Cruse | 2,246 | 21.44 | ||
| Harding | George C. Warren Jr. | 251 | 2.40 | ||
| Harding | Charles Lee Meyers | 185 | 1.77 | ||
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Forty-Fifth Session. Trenton, N.J.: Josephine A. Fitzgerald. 1921. pp. 510–14.
- ↑ "HARDING WITHDRAWS FROM JERSEY PRIMARY; Insufficient Funds to Make Contest Reason Assigned by HisCampaign Manager". The New York Times. April 2, 1920. p. 15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "FORCES LINED UP FOR JERSEY PRIMARY; Contest Between Wood and Johnson to be Chief Feature of Election Tuesday. THREE "BIG FOUR" GROUPS No Contest for Democratic Delegates at Large--All Pledged toEdwards--List of Candidates". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2026.