The 1985 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1985. Incumbent Republican Governor Thomas Kean won a landslide re-election against the Democratic candidate, Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro. As of 2025, Kean's is the largest margin in terms of percentage and raw votes in all New Jersey gubernatorial elections. Kean was the first Republican to be re-elected governor since 1949, and the first Republican to ever win two four-year terms.
Primary elections were held on June 4. Kean was unopposed for the Republican nomination. In the Democratic primary, Shapiro prevailed over strong competition from Senate President John F. Russo and Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson. Stephen B. Wiley and Robert Del Tufo ran competitive campaigns but finished well behind the top three.
The general election was a foregone conclusion in favor of the popular incumbent. Kean won 564 out of 567 municipalities (all except Audubon Park, Chesilhurst, and Roosevelt) and a 62% majority among African-American voters, a remarkable margin for a modern Republican candidate. Kean's coattails led the Republicans to win the General Assembly for the first time since the 1971 elections. To date, Kean is the last Republican to win Essex and Hudson counties in a statewide election and the last candidate of any party to carry every county. Until 2021, this was the last election where the winning candidate was of the same party as the sitting president.
Republican primary.
Results.
Incumbent Governor Thomas Kean was unopposed in the Republican primary election.
Results.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
References.
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