on november 23, 2004, forrester formally announced his gubernatorial candidacy at washington crossing state park. he announced that he would not accept public funding for his campaign. his primary competitor in the primaries was bret schundler, a former gubernatorial candidate and former mayor of jersey city, new jersey. after vote counting problems in bergen county, a swing county in the primary election, forrester broke even as planned with schundler, giving him a 36-31 percent statewide victory over schundler, setting forrester up for his race against democratic party candidate and us senator jon corzine.