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1990 United States Senate election in New Jersey

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Field	Value
election_name	1990 United States Senate election in New Jersey
country	New Jersey
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	1984 United States Senate election in New Jersey
previous_year	1984
next_election	1996 United States Senate election in New Jersey
next_year	1996
election_date	November 6, 1990
turnout	54% ( 25pp)
image_size	x145px
image1	File:BillBradley (cropped).jpg
nominee1	Bill Bradley
party1	Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote1	977,810
percentage1	50.44%
image2	Christine Todd Whitman 412-APD-A5-Admin (cropped).jpg
nominee2	Christine Todd Whitman
party2	Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote2	918,874
percentage2	47.40%
map_image
map_caption	Bradley:
Whitman:
title	U.S. Senator
before_election	Bill Bradley
before_party	Democratic Party (United States)
after_election	Bill Bradley
after_party	Democratic Party (United States)

Whitman:
The 1990 New Jersey United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1990, to select the Class 2 U.S. Senator from the state of New Jersey. Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Bradley decided to seek re-election and narrowly edged out little-known Republican Christine Todd Whitman.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Bill Bradley, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1979
Daniel Z. Seyler, Phillipsburg resident

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Christine Todd Whitman, President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and former Somerset County Freeholder (1983–1988)

Declined

Leanna Brown, State Senator from Chatham

Campaign

The New Jersey Republican Party struggled to recruit a candidate to oppose Bradley, a widely popular incumbent with financial resources in a state that had not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, although incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush had carried the state by a wide margin in 1988 and remained highly popular. The two most commonly mentioned candidates were Christine Todd Whitman, the president of the state board of public utilities, and State Senator Leanna Brown, who had raised her profile through her involvement in Jim Courter's 1989 gubernatorial campaign. Brown removed herself from consideration on February 24, leaving Whitman as the likely nominee.

Bradley was expected to outspend the Republican nominee four-to-one and even Whitman admitted that the goal of the Republican campaign was not winning, but rather "show[ing] there are good credible candidates... to show there is life after Tom Kean." Whitman, the daughter of former party chair Webster B. Todd, resigned from the public utilities board on March 5 and announced she would face Bradley with the support of the state party on March 13. In doing so, Whitman passed up the opportunity to run for an open U.S. House seat vacated by Jim Courter. Acknowledging the uphill battle Whitman faced, Somerset party chair Jack Penn compared her odds to those of Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog who had knocked out Mike Tyson one month earlier.

Results

General election

Candidates

Bill Bradley, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1979 (Democratic)
John Kucek (Populist)
Don Mackle (Socialist Workers)
Louis Stefanelli (Libertarian)
Christine Todd Whitman, President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (Republican)

Campaign

U.S. Senator Bill Bradley didn't realize he was in danger of losing re-election and the New Jersey voters' anger over taxes and economy until the week prior to the election.

In the early part of the campaign, Bradley already had a major image problem; he was comfortably ahead in the polls, so his staffers told him to play it safe. He aired television advertisements of himself walking on the beach, shooting a perfect shot on the court, and sitting back in his office with his basketball shoes on his desk. The advertisements backfired as voters were turned off and thought that he wasn't taking his job seriously, especially at a time when voters were suffering.

Another major problem with Bradley was how Democratic Governor Jim Florio implemented a $2.8 billion tax increase, hurting the state's economy. In addition, Bradley refused to answer questions pertaining to Florio's tax policies.

After Bradley realized he was in trouble, he released negative advertisements attacking Whitman's own record on taxes, accusing her of favoring tax increases when she was a Somerset County Freeholder. Bradley's image may have been further damaged by his newer advertisements.

Polling

Poll source	Date(s)
administered	Sample
size	Margin
of error	Bill
Bradley (D)	Christine
Whitman (R)	Other/
Undecided
date=September 2025}}	July 2–10, 1990	616 LV	±4.0%	64%	17%	19%
date=September 2025}}	Sep. 24–Oct. 2, 1990	613 LV	±4.0%	56%	26%	18%
date=September 2025}}	October 16–22, 1990	532 LV	±4.5%	62%	26%	12%
Rutgers-Eagleton	October 27–31, 1990	987 LV	±3.2%	55%	27%	18%
466 PV	±4.5%	50%	33%	17%

Results

Results by county

County	Bradley %	Whitman votes	Whitman %	Other votes	Other %
Atlantic	27.905	58.08%	19,481	40.54%	662	1.38%
Bergen	121,020	49.24%	121,600	49.47%	3,180	1.29%
Burlington	46,912	49.33%	46,287	48.67%	1,901	2.00%
Camden	72,328	56.78%	52,790	41.44%	2,263	1.78%
Cape May	16,627	54.11%	13,528	44.02%	573	1.86%
Cumberland	18,186	56.82%	12,765	39.89%	1,053	3.29%
Essex	93,052	61.09%	56,722	37.24%	2,539	1.67%
Gloucester	35,379	57.01%	25,374	40.89%	1,307	2.11%
Hudson	65,242	65.62%	32,311	32.50%	1,877	1.89%
Hunterdon	10,849	36.11%	18,309	60.94%	886	2.95%
Mercer	45,036	52.28%	39,570	45.94%	1,535	1.78%
Middlesex	80,080	49.49%	77,165	47.69%	4,553	2.81%
Monmouth	74,934	47.62%	80,126	50.92%	2,298	1.46%
Morris	46,928	40.71%	66,369	57.57%	1,983	1.72%
Ocean	54,714	39.90%	76,948	56.12%	5,547	3.98%
Passaic	40,312	46.58%	43,867	50.69%	2,357	2.72%
Salem	10,086	53.99%	7,999	42.82%	596	3.19%
Somerset	27,508		40.30%	38,426	56.30%	2,320	3.40%
Sussex	12.814	38.45%	19,789	59.37%	726	2.18%
Union	66,716	52.11%	57,628	45.38%	3,184	2.51%
Warren	11,722	48.72%	11,820	49.12%	520	2.16%

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Bergen
Hunterdon
Monmouth
Morris
Ocean
Passaic
Somerset
Sussex
Warren

References

"General Election Data - 1924 to 2022".
Dendy, Dallas L.. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1990".
"United States Senate - Primary Election, June 5, 1990".
O'Dea, Colleen. (24 Feb 1990). "Brown decides against a run for U.S. Senate". [[The Record (New Jersey).
Hester, Tom. (13 Mar 1990). "GOP'S Whitman to Face Sen. Bradley". [[Central Jersey Home News]].
Serrill, Ted. (25 Feb 1990). "BPU's Whitman considers challenging Bradley". [[Central Jersey Home News]].
(8 November 1990). "THE 1990 ELECTIONS: What Went Wrong?; Bradley Says He Sensed Voter Fury but It Was Too Late to do Anything". The New York Times.
[https://eagletonpoll.parc.us.com/client/index.html#/search Rutgers-Eagleton]
"NJ DOS - Division of Elections - Election Results Archive".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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