1977 New Jersey Senate election

The 1977 New Jersey State Senate election coincided with Brendan Byrne's re-election to a second term as Governor of New Jersey.

The election coincided with Governor Brendan Byrne's re-election over Senator Raymond Bateman. Byrne narrowly survived a primary election which eliminated seven incumbent Democratic Senators. Despite the intra-party division and early polls indicating Byrne was an underdog in the general election, Byrne survived and the Democrats preserved their large majority in the Senate, losing just one seat on aggregate. This is the last time Democrats held a veto-proof majority in the chamber.

Democrats chose Joseph P. Merlino as the Senate President and Carmen Orechio as Majority Leader; Republicans named Garrett Hagedorn as Minority Leader.

Democratic

 * John A. Lynch Sr. (District 17)
 * Alexander J. Menza (District 20) (ran for U.S. Senator)
 * Raymond Garramone (District 39) (ran for Governor)

Republican

 * Alfred N. Beadleston (District 11)
 * Raymond Bateman (District 16) (ran for Governor)
 * Frank Davenport (District 35)

Close races
Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:


 * 1) District 27, 1.8%
 * 2) District 20, 1.6%
 * 3) District 6, 4.2%
 * 4) District 39, 5.6%
 * 5) District 23, 8.6%
 * 6) District 10, 9.5%

Democratic

 * District 2: Joseph McGahn (Atlantic) lost party support to Steven P. Perskie, an Assemblyman from Atlantic County.
 * District 6: Alene Ammond (Camden) lost the primary to Victor Pachter.
 * District 7: Edward J. Hughes (Burlington) lost the primary to Charles B. Yates.
 * District 19: John Fay (Middlesex) lost the primary to Laurence Weiss.
 * District 21: Thomas Dunn (Union) lost party support to John Gregorio, an Assemblyman from Union County and mayor of Linden.
 * District 31: James P. Dugan (Hudson) lost the primary to Wally Sheil, the President of Hudson County Community College.
 * District 32: Joseph W. Tumulty (Hudson) lost the primary to David Friedland, a former Assemblyman from Hudson County.

Democratic

 * District 10: Herbert Buehler (Monmouth) lost to Republican Brian Kennedy, a former Assemblyman from Monmouth County.
 * District 23: Stephen Wiley (Morris) lost to Republican John H. Dorsey, an Assemblyman from Morris County.

Independent

 * District 2: After losing the Democratic primary, Senator Joseph McGahn ran as an independent in the general election; he finished third behind Perskie and Republican F. Frederick Perone.
 * District 21: After losing the Democratic primary, Senator Thomas Dunn ran as an independent in the general election; he finished second behind Gregorio.
 * District 30: Anthony Imperiale (Essex) was defeated by Democrat Frank E. Rodgers, the mayor of Harrison.

Democratic holds

 * District 17: John A. Lynch Sr. (Middlesex) retired. Speaker of the Assembly William J. Hamilton won the open seat.
 * District 20: Alexander J. Menza (Union) retired to run for U.S. Senator. Union Township councilman Anthony E. Russo won the open seat.
 * District 39: Raymond Garramone (Bergen) retired to run for Governor. Former Bergen County Freeholder Frank Herbert won the open seat.

Democratic gains

 * District 35: Republican Frank Davenport did not seek re-election. Frank X. Graves Jr., the mayor of Paterson, defeated former Assemblyman Alfred Fontanella.

Republican holds

 * District 11: Alfred N. Beadleston (Monmouth) retired. Former Monmouth County Surrogate S. Thomas Gagliano won the open seat.
 * District 17: Raymond Bateman (Somserset) retired to run for Governor. Assemblyman John H. Ewing won the open seat.

Republican gains

 * District 6: Alene Ammond (Camden) lost the Democratic primary to Victor Pachter; Pachter lost the general election to Republican Lee Laskin, a former Assemblyman.
 * District 14: Anne Clark Martindell (Mercer) was appointed U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand in May, leaving her seat vacant; Republican Walter E. Foran, an Assemblyman from Hunterdon County, won the open seat.