1977 New Jersey Senate election
The 1977 New Jersey State Senate election coincided with Brendan Byrne's re-election to a second term as Governor of New Jersey.

The election coincided with Governor Brendan Byrne's re-election over Senator Raymond Bateman. Byrne narrowly survived a primary election which eliminated seven incumbent Democratic Senators. Despite the intra-party division and early polls indicating Byrne was an underdog in the general election, Byrne survived and the Democrats preserved their large majority in the Senate, losing just one seat on aggregate. This is last time Democrats held a veto-proof majority in the chamber.

Incumbents not running for re-election

Democratic
John A. Lynch Sr. (District 17)
Alexander J. Menza (District 20) (ran for U.S. Senator)
Raymond Garramone (District 39) (ran for Governor)

Republican
Alfred N. Beadleston (District 11)
Raymond Bateman (District 16) (ran for Governor)
Frank Davenport (District 35)

Summary of results by district

Incumbents defeated

In primary elections

Democratic 
 District 2: Joseph McGahn (Atlantic) lost party support to Steven P. Perskie, an Assemblyman from Atlantic County.

 District 6: Alene Ammond (Camden) lost the primary to Victor Pachter.
 District 7: Edward J. Hughes (Burlington) lost the primary to Charles B. Yates.
 District 19: John Fay (Middlesex) lost the primary to Laurence Weiss.
 District 21: Thomas Dunn (Union) lost party support to John Gregorio, an Assemblyman from Union County and mayor of Linden.
 District 31: James P. Dugan (Hudson) lost the primary to Wally Sheil, the President of Hudson County Community College.
 District 32: Joseph W. Tumulty (Hudson) lost the primary to David Friedland, a former Assemblyman from Hudson County.

In general elections

Democratic 
 District 10: Herbert Buehler (Monmouth) lost to Republican Brian Kennedy, a former Assemblyman from Monmouth County.
 District 23: Stephen Wiley (Morris) lost to Republican John H. Dorsey, an Assemblyman from Morris County.

Independent 
 District 2: After losing the Democratic primary, Senator Joseph McGahn ran as an independent in the general election; he finished third behind Perskie and Republican F. Frederick Perone.
 District 21: After losing the Democratic primary, Senator Thomas Dunn ran as an independent in the general election; he finished second behind Gregorio.
 District 30: Anthony Imperiale (Essex) was defeated by Democrat Frank E. Rodgers, the mayor of Harrison.

Open seats

Democratic holds 
 District 17: John A. Lynch Sr. (Middlesex) retired. Speaker of the Assembly William J. Hamilton won the open seat.
 District 20: Alexander J. Menza (Union) retired to run for U.S. Senator. Union Township councilman Anthony E. Russo won the open seat.
 District 39: Raymond Garramone (Bergen) retired to run for Governor. Former Bergen County Freeholder Frank Herbert won the open seat.

Democratic gains 

 District 35: Republican Frank Davenport did not seek re-election. Frank X. Graves Jr., the mayor of Paterson, defeated former Assemblyman Alfred Fontanella.

Republican holds 

District 11: Alfred N. Beadleston (Monmouth) retired. Former Monmouth County Surrogate S. Thomas Gagliano won the open seat.
District 17: Raymond Bateman (Somserset) retired to run for Governor. Assemblyman John H. Ewing won the open seat.

Republican gains 

 District 6: Alene Ammond (Camden) lost the Democratic primary to Victor Pachter; Pachter lost the general election to Republican Lee Laskin, a former Assemblyman.
 District 14: Anne Clark Martindell (Mercer) was appointed U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand in May, leaving her seat vacant; Republican Walter E. Foran, an Assemblyman from Hunterdon County, won the open seat.

District 1

District 2

District 3

District 4

District 5

District 6

District 7

District 8

District 9

District 10

District 11

District 12

District 13

District 14

District 15

District 16

District 17

District 18

District 19

District 20

District 21

District 22

District 23

District 24

District 25

District 26

District 27

District 28

District 29

District 30

District 31

District 32

District 33

District 34

District 35

District 36

District 37

District 38

District 39

District 40

Leadership
Democrats chose Joseph P. Merlino as the Senate President and Carmen Orechio as Majority Leader; Republicans named Garrett Hagedorn as Minority Leader.

References

1977 New Jersey elections
New Jersey
1977