The 1984 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Democrat Bill Bradley defeated Republican nominee Mary V. Mochary with 64.16% of the vote, winning every county in the state.

To date, this is the most recent time Hunterdon, Sussex, and Warren counties were won by a Democrat in a statewide election. This is the first election since 1888 that a Democrat was re-elected to this seat, and the first time ever that they were popularly re-elected to this seat.

Primary elections

Primary elections were held on June 5, 1984.[2]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bill Bradley (incumbent) 404,301 92.95%
Democratic Elliot Greenspan 30,680 7.05%
Total votes 434,981 100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mary V. Mochary 111,851 61.37%
Republican Robert J. Morris 70,418 38.63%
Total votes 182,269 100.00%

General election

A Mochary bumper sticker attempting to tie her campaign to the popular Reagan-Bush ticket.

Candidates

  • Bill Bradley, incumbent Senator since 1979 (Democratic)
  • Jasper C. Gould (Independent)
  • James T. Hagen (Independent)
  • Harold F. Leiendecker (Libertarian)
  • Jules Levin (Socialist Labor)
  • Mary V. Mochary, mayor of Montclair (Republican)
  • Priscilla Schenk (Socialist Workers)

Campaign

Mochary was forced to suspend her campaign in October due to her husband's life-threatening illness. She traveled with her husband to Stanford, California for an experimental heart transplant.[3]

Results

1984 United States Senate election in New Jersey[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bill Bradley (incumbent) 1,986,644 64.16%
Republican Mary V. Mochary 1,080,100 34.88%
Independent James T. Hagen 10,409 0.34%
Libertarian Harold F. Leiendecker 7,135 0.23%
Socialist Labor Jules Levin 6,053 0.20%
Socialist Workers Priscilla Schenk 3,224 0.10%
Independent Jasper C. Gould 2,891 0.09%
Total votes 3,096,456 100.00%
Democratic hold

Results by county

County Bradley votes Bradley % Mochary votes Mochary % Other votes Other %
Atlantic 47,478 60.9% 29,447 37.8% 1,020 1.3%
Bergen 262,694 63.6% 148,080 35.9% 2,015 0.5%
Burlington 89,463 63.5% 50,653 36.0% 737 0.4%
Camden 137,827 68.1% 60,581 31.3% 1,234 0.6%
Cape May 21,859 54.1% 18,365 45.4% 209 0.6%
Cumberland 29,520 61.0% 17,738 36.7% 1,097 2.3%
Essex 219,902 73.4% 76,179 25.4% 3,530 1.1%
Gloucester 56,072 64.8% 30,096 34.8% 421 0.5%
Hudson 137,352 68.6% 60,844 30.4% 1,978 0.9%
Hunterdon 20,864 53.1% 17,839 45.4% 611 1.5%
Mercer 94,782 72.0% 35,745 27.2% 1,036 0.8%
Middlesex 172,478 66.4% 83,617 32.2% 3,699 1.4%
Monmouth 142,084 63.4% 80,093 35.7% 1,914 0.8%
Morris 106,678 57.5% 77,683 41.9% 1,154 0.6%
Ocean 94,076 54.7% 75,923 44.1% 2,033 1.2%
Passaic 101,217 62.0% 59,468 36.4% 2,606 1.6%
Salem 15,900 60.7% 10,099 38.5% 207 0.8%
Somerset 55,757 58.0% 38,862 40.4% 1,562 1.6%
Sussex 25,334 53.8% 21,494 45.6% 264 0.5%
Union 142,320 65.0% 74,446 34.0% 2,102 0.9%
Warren 18,987 58.4% 13,248 40.7% 283 0.9%

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

[5]

References

  1. ↑ "General Election Data - 1924 to 2022" (PDF). NJ.gov.
  2. 1 2 3 "1984 Primary Election Results" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1984. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  3. ↑ Haitch, Richard (February 17, 1985). "Follow-up on the News: Mochary Sequel". The New York Times. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  4. ↑ "1984 General Election Results" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1984. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  5. ↑ "NJ DOS - Division of Elections - Election Results Archive". nj.gov. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_United_States_Senate_election_in_New_Jersey