Assemblymen beating Senators in primaries are rare

Assemblyman Michael Doherty says he'll seek the Republican nomination for State Senator against soon-to-be incumbent Marcia Karrow in June.  "Wild horses couldn't prevent me from running in that primary," he said.  Over the last 32 years, six Assembly members have taken on incumbent Senators in primaries, but only two have won.

The last sitting member of the State Assembly to beat an incumbent Senator in a primary was Leanna Brown, who beat James Vreeland in the 1983 Republican primary.  That same year, Senator Joseph Bubba defeated Assemblyman Terry LaCorte in the GOP primary. 

In 1993, State Senator Richard Codey beat Assemblyman Robert Brown in the Democratic primary.  Most recently, in 2003, Assemblyman LeRoy Jones unsuccessfully challenged Senator Nia Gill in the Democratic primary.

The 1977 primary election -- the same one where nine Democrats challenged incumbent Brendan Byrne in the Democratic gubernatorial primary - two Senators faced primary challenges from former running mates:  Charles Yates, a Democratic Assemblyman from Burlington County, ousted Senator Edward Hughes in the Democratic primary; and Assemblyman Eldridge Hawkins took on Senate President Frank "Pat" Dodd in the Democratic primary and lost. (Hawkins finished third, with tennis great Althea Gibson running second.) 

Also in 1977, Democratic Assemblymen Steven Perskie and John Gregorio won organization lines for the State Senate, forcing the Democratic Senators Joseph McGahn and Thomas Dunn, respectively, to seek re-election as independents.  In 2004, Senator Joseph Doria was the Democratic candidate in a special election against Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, who ran as an Independent.

Four other Democratic Senators lost primary that year: John Fay, a Woodbridge Democrat who lost to Laurence Weiss; Alene Ammond, who had been thrown out of the Senate Democratic Caucus two years earlier, was ousted by former Cherry Hill Councilman Victor Pachter; James Dugan of Jersey City, the sitting Democratic State Chairman, lost to Walter Sheil; and one-term Senator Joseph Tummulty of Jersey City lost to former Assemblyman David Friedland.

Three other Senators have lost primaries over the last 28 years: Sheil lost to Edward O'Connor in 1981;  Nicholas Sacco, the Mayor of North Bergen, beat three-term Senator Thomas Cowan in the 1993 Democratic primary; and in 1997, Passaic County Freeholder Norman Robertson unseated Bubba, a four-term Senator, in the Republican primary. 

In 1993, Senate Majority Leader John Dorsey almost faced a primary challenge, but the nominating petitions of the young Republican lawyer who wanted to run against him, Christopher Christie, were rejected.