N.J. Senate is a tough launching pad for higher office

If you are a New Jersey State Senator, you are more likely to die in office than to win higher elective office. Under the current State Constitution, 49 sitting State Senators have asked voters to promote them to a new office, but only eleven have won.  

That might be bad news for Loretta Weinberg, the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, and the 50th State Senator to run for another office.

Nearly half of the State Senators seeking higher office have run for Governor and all 21 have lost: Malcolm Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) won major party nominations but lost the general election -- each time to an incumbent; William Schluter ran as an Independent in 2001; and Walter Jones (1961), Charles Sandman (1965), William Kelly (1969), Frank McDermott (1969), William Ozzard (1969), Harry Sears (1969), Ralph DeRose (1973), Raymond Garramone (1977), Frank Dodd (1981), William Hamilton (1981), Joseph Merlino (1981), James Wallwork (1981), Bill Gormley (1989) and Gerald Cardinale (1989).

Edward Crabiel gave up his Senate seat to run in 1973 but withdrew when some party leaders decided to back Brendan Byrne. In 2001, Donald DiFrancesco dropped his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

All seven State Senators who have run for the United States Senate have lost: Frank Guarini, in 1970 Democratic primary against Harrison Williams; Richard LaRossa (1996), Bill Gormley (2000), Diane Allen (2002), John Matheussen (2002), Thomas Kean, Jr. (2006) and Joseph Pennacchio (2008).  Only Kean won a primary.  (The last time a sitting State Senator went to the U.S. Senate was in 1934, when William Smathers beat Kean's great-grandfather.)

Eleven of the fourteen sitting State Senators who have run for Congress have won: John Hunt (1966), Edwin Forsythe (1970), Joseph Maraziti (1972), Matthew Rinaldo (1992), Bernard Dwyer (1980), James Saxton (1984), Frank Pallone (1988), Richard Zimmer (1990), Robert Menendez (1992), John Adler (2008) and Leonard Lance (2008).  Five have lost House bids: Richard Stout (1968), Joseph Kyrillos (1992), Gormley (1994), John Bennett (1996), and Cardinale (2002).

Four incumbent State Senators have unsuccessfully sought office in Bergen County: Matthew Feldman (1986) and Hank McNamara (2002) ran for County Executive; Harold Hollenbeck (1973) ran for Freeholder; and Byron Baer (2005), who unsuccessfully sought the organization line for Mayor of Englewood.   Three Senators have lost bids for Mayor of Newark: Alexander Matturi (1970), Anthony Imperiale (1974), and Ronald Rice (1998 and 2006). Frank Graves was elected Mayor of Paterson in 1982, a post he had previously held from 1961 to 1966.

Thirteen Senators have died in office -- three more than the number who have won higher office: Raymond Bowkley, John Caufield, Robert Crane, Glenn Cunningham, John Dimon, Walter Foran, Garrett Hagedorn, William Haines, Joseph Hirkala, Christopher Jackman, Wynona Lipman, Edward Sisco and Howard Sharp. Another, Walter Kavanaugh, did not seek re-election in 2007, and died on his final day in office.

Editor's Note: Gormley is counted once, although he has sought higher office three times; Cardinale, who ran twice, is also counted once; Rice is counted once, although he ran for Mayor twice; Senators who ran for higher office before running for the Senate at all, like Bob Gordon and Robert Smith, are not counted at all.  It also doesn't count Senators like Nicholas Sacco, who was Mayor before he was Senator and now runs for both.