Albert Hawkes

The announcement today that U.S. Senator Arlen Specter is switching parties is of little significance to New Jersey politics, except that it comes at a time when establishment Republicans are engaged in a fierce battle with conservatives for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.  Specter’s decision will likely upset some party leaders who view him as the type of Republican who can win a state that is trending Democratic.  And his switch will probably evoke a sort of “good riddance, rino” attitude from the conservative wing of the New Jersey GOP.

New Jersey, which hasn’t elected a Republican U.S. Senator since Clifford Case won a fourth term in 1972, has tossed two of their last three GOP Senators before the general election: Albert Hawkes was dumped by party leaders in his bid for a second term in 1948, and Case lost the 1978 GOP primary to conservative Jeffrey Bell.  And New Jersey Republicans have tossed one of their last three GOP Governors: incumbent William Cahill was ousted in the 1973 primary by Charles Sandman, a conservative Congressman.  (Another Republican Governor, Christine Todd Whitman, has been battling conservatives in a bid to keep moderates in the Republican Party.)

Conservative GOP statewide candidates, left to right: Albert Hawkes, Charles Sandman, Jeff Bell and Bret Schundler

If Steve Lonegan wins election as Governor, he might be the first conservative Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey since Albert Hawkes ousted incumbent William Smathers in the 1942 U.S. Senate race. Hawkes served as President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before running for the Senate - his first bid for public office.

Since then, Republican statewide winners have been considered moderates: Governors Alfred Driscoll, William Cahill, Thomas Kean and Christine Todd Whitman; and U.S. Senators Robert Hendrickson, Alexander Smith, and Clifford Case.  Other Republicans widely viewed as conservatives, including Charles Sandman, Jeffrey Bell, and Bret Schundler, were unsuccessful general election candidates.

Not to be overlooked: 84-year-old Frank Lautenberg may be the oldest man to ever represent New Jersey in the United States Senate, but 64-year-old Dick Zimmer -- if he wins in November -- would become one of the oldest freshman Senators in state history.  Hamilton Kean was the oldest freshman Senator -- he was 66 when he ousted incumbent Edward Edwards in 1928.  Alexander Smith was 64 when he won in 1944, and Albert Hawkes was 64 when he won in 1942. 

Conservative Republicans have not fared well in races for Governor or U.S. Senate in New Jersey: the last conservative to win statewide was Albert W. Hawkes, who was elected to the United States Senate in 1942. A Montclair businessman, the 64-year-old Hawkes was serving as the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when party leaders encouraged him to run against freshman Democratic Senator William Smathers; he just narrowly beat Gill Rob Wilson, a Trenton Minister and state Aviation Director, in the Republican primary, but easily ousted Smathers in the general election. After Governor Alfred Driscoll viewed Hawkes as too conservative and withdrew party support for his re-election bid in 1948. Hawkes declined to run (the seat went to State Treasurer Robert Hendrickson, a former Senate President and gubernatorial candidate) and returned to New Jersey to run his linoleum manufacturing business. He backed Ohio Senator Robert Taft for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination when the rest of the New Jersey GOP establishment (led by Christine Todd Whitman's father, Webster Todd) backed General Dwight Eisenhower.