The 1989 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1989. Incumbent Republican Governor Thomas Kean was term-limited after two consecutive terms. Democrat James Florio, a U.S. Representative from Camden County and a twice-unsuccessful candidate for Governor, defeated Republican U.S. Representative Jim Courter by the lopsided margin of 61.2%-37.2%.
Primary elections were held on Tuesday, June 6. Courter won the Republican nomination over a large field that included state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards, Speaker of the Assembly Chuck Hardwick, and State Senators Bill Gormley and Gerald Cardinale. Florio, who had run in 1977 and 1981, won the Democratic nomination with little trouble over Princeton mayor Barbara Boggs Sigmund and former Speaker Alan Karcher.
"The Washington Post" called the election "one of the most negative gubernatorial campaigns in the state's history". Democrats also won back the New Jersey General Assembly on Florio's coattails.
Republican primary.
Candidates.
Speaker Hardwick announced his campaign on February 9.
Campaign.
Hardwick presented himself as a slightly more conservative version of Kean, even noting their physical similarities: part of his stump speech was to ask, "How can a Republican Assembly Speaker with a gap-toothed smile, who isn't a lawyer, expect to be Governor?" Nevertheless, he was critical of Kean's proposals for property tax reform, coastal commission to manage growth on the Jersey shore, and his renomination New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Wilentz, a liberal. Hardwick, himself a former commuter, also picked a public fight on behalf of New Jersey commuters with Governor of New York Mario Cuomo, attacking New York's income tax on New Jerseyans working in New York City.
The Hardwick campaign actively sought endorsement from New Jersey Right to Life, the NRA Political Victory Fund, and police officers' groups in an attempt to attract unaffiliated voters into the Republican primary.
Hardwick won some early victories, including a non-binding Middlesex County Republican Convention, where he took 51% of the delegates in a county Courter represented in Congress.
As the campaign concluded and polls showed Courter narrowly behind, he remained confident of victory.
Endorsements.
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;List of Jim Courter endorsements
U.S. Representatives
County officials
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;List of W. Cary Edwards endorsements
State executive branch officials
State legislators
Individuals
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;List of Bill Gormley endorsements
Individuals
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;List of Chuck Hardwick endorsements
Individuals
Results.
This is the most recent gubernatorial election in New Jersey in which the Democratic nominee won with over 60% of the vote, and the last in which either party did so until 2013.
! 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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