The 1977 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1977. Incumbent Democratic governor Brendan Byrne defeated Republican State Senator Raymond Bateman with 55.71% of the vote.
Primary elections were held on June 7. Byrne barely overcame a large field of challengers, unusual for an incumbent Governor, to win the Democratic nomination with just over thirty percent of the vote. In the Republican primary, Bateman defeated Thomas Kean by a roughly 66,500 vote majority with former Senator C. Robert Sarcone a distant third.
Byrne, whose popularity had plummeted after his landslide 1973 victory and his introduction of the state's first income tax, faced an uphill battle even after surviving the primary. Bateman led in all early polls, usually by a large margin. However, Byrne waged an aggressive campaign, challenging Bateman to several debates and criticizing both his voting record and his comprehensive economic proposals. In doing so, he ate into Bateman's margin in the polls, softened the unpopularity of the income tax, and flipped his own image as a weak incumbent; by November, he was considered the favorite for re-election, and he won handily.
To date, this was the last time the counties of Hunterdon and Warren were carried by a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. This would also be the last time New Jersey would reelect a Democratic Governor until Phil Murphy won reelection in 2021. , this was also the most recent New Jersey gubernatorial election in which both major party candidates are now deceased.
Background
Governor Brendan Byrne was elected in 1973 with 66.7% of the vote, the largest victory in the state's history. His landslide margin, which was credited to his image as a corruption-proof judge in the immediate wake of the Watergate scandal, swept Democratic supermajorities into both houses of the New Jersey Legislature.
During the 1973 campaign, Byrne commented that he saw no need for a state income tax "for the foreseeable future." Nevertheless, he began to push for an income tax within his first months in office to provide funding for a court‐ordered refinancing of New Jersey's public schools. His popularity soon plummeted. After a two-year fight, Byrne's income tax passed in 1976. However, it was set to expire in June 1978, setting up his re-election as a referendum on the tax. During the height of the anti-tax fervor, critics began to call the governor "One-Term Byrne."
In 1976, New Jersey was a battleground state in the presidential campaign. Incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford attacked Byrne by name and made veiled references to the income tax during his visits to the state. When Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn visited the state to campaign, they were jeered by anti-tax demonstrators. At one campaign stop in Newark, Byrne was booed for ten minutes upon his arrival. Though Byrne was one of the earliest supporters of Carter during the primary, the new President avoided the Governor for nearly a year after. Though Ford ultimately lost the national election, Byrne's unpopularity was partially credited for Ford's victory in New Jersey.
Democratic primary
Candidates (with ballot slogans) Brendan Byrne, incumbent Governor (Democrats for Byrne) Ralph DeRose, former State Senator from Essex County and candidate for Governor in 1973 (This Time, Make the Right Choice) James Florio, U.S. Representative from Cherry Hill (Regular Democratic Organization) A. Howard Freund, American Party nominee for Governor in 1973 (Democrats Against State Income Tax) Raymond Garramone, State Senator from Haworth (Experienced Democrats for Better Government) Joseph A. Hoffman, former Commissioner of Labor and Industry (He Can Make New Jersey Work) George Koukos (Demand Immediate Repeal of Income Tax) Robert A. Roe, U.S. Representative from Wayne (Regular Democratic Party) Melvin M. Whaley (Democrat for Change) Emery J. Zold (Government For the People: Stop Bossism)
Withdrew
Paul T. Jordan, Mayor of Jersey City (withdrew following municipal elections) Jeffrey Ketterman, former Dean of Seton Hall Law School and aide to Governor Byrne
Byrne's unpopularity, which was particularly strong in blue-collar Democratic areas where opposition to the tax was strongest, prompted a large field of challengers. Early on, there were proposals to remove the incumbent from the race entirely by securing him a federal appointment from President Carter, but these proposals were squashed after Senate President Matthew Feldman, who would have succeeded Byrne, pleaded guilty to commercial bribery.