N.J. Presidential Trivia - New Jersey Globe (2025)

Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Frank Lautenberg hold the record for the most appearances on a New Jersey general election ballot as a major party nominee: five times each. Roosevelt ran for Vice President in 1920 and President in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944; Nixon ran for Vice President in 1952 and 1956, and for President in 1960, 1968, and 1972; in 1972, Nixon swept all 21 counties. Lautenberg was a U.S. Senate candidate in 1982, 1988, 1994, 2002 and 2008. Lautenberg holds the record for the most general election victories: five.

Martin Van Buren, George H.W. Bush, A. Harry Moore, Clifford Case, and Harrison Williams were on a New Jersey general election ballot four times: Van Buren for Vice President in 1832, and for President in 1836, 1840, and 1848; Bush for Vice President in 1980 and 1984, and President in 1988 and 1992; Moore won governor’s races in 1925, 1931, and 1937, and a U.S> Senate race in 1934; Case for U.S. Senate in 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1972; and Williams for U.S. Senate in 1958, 1964, 1970 and 1976. Bush won three times; Case and Williams each won four Senate races. Van Buren won New Jersey as Andrew Jackson’s running mate, but lost his three presidential campaigns. (Van Buren was the Free Soil candidate in 1848).

Abraham Lincoln lost New Jersey twice, but in 1860, he received the most electoral votes.

Herbert Hoover won everywhere but Hudson County in his 1928 presidential campaign against Alfred E. Smith. Only Middlesex and Passaic were single-digit counties that year.

Did you know this?

George W. Bush in 2000 became the first Republican President since Benjamin Harrison in 1888 to win the presidency without carrying Bergen County and became the first Republican to ever capture the White House without winning Salem County. Bush was also the first Republican to win a presidential election without carrying New Jersey since James Garfield did in 1880.

Who holds the highest percentage for a presidential nominee in New Jersey?

Warren Harding received 67.7% of the vote in 1920 — and his coattails helped Republicans win 59 of 60 seats in the State Assembly that year. Others over 60%: Lyndon Johnson in 1964 (65.6%); Dwight Eisenhower in 1956 (64.7%); Calvin Coolidge in 1924 (62.2%); Richard Nixon in 1972 (61.6%); and Ronald Reagan in 1984 (60.1%).

Which was the closest presidential race?

The eras and political parties matter in answering this. In 1832, Andrew Jackson won New Jersey by 0.76% against Henry Clay – a margin of 360 votes. Winfield Hancock carried his home state of New Jersey against Garfield by 0.82% and 2,010 votes in 1880. Others of note: Grover Cleveland carried New Jersey by 1.7% against James Blaine in 1884; Roosevelt over Hoover by 1.9 points in 1932, and over Dewey by 1.4 points in 1944; and notably, John F. Kennedy over Nixon by 0.8% and 22,091 votes in 1960.

Who is the only President to lose all 21 New Jersey counties while seeking re-election?

William Howard Taft in 1912. Gov. Woodrow Wilson carried 17 of 21 counties, while Bull Moose Progressive Theodore Roosevelt won Passaic, Essex, Ocean, and Cumberland.

Which presidential nominees carried all 21 counties in New Jersey?

Eisenhower in 1956, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Richard Nixon in 1972. (Reagan won everywhere but Essex in 1984; Before 1824, the New Jersey Legislature picked members of the Electoral College. The 1924 race – Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams, 52%-42%, was the first time voters picked the electors.

Which presidential candidate won and lost New Jersey the most?

Franklin Roosevelt carried New Jersey in each of his four presidential elections; William Jennings Bryan and Donald Trump each lost three times.

How many Presidents lost New Jersey when they sought re-election?

Woodrow Wilson lost his home state to Charles Evans Hughes, 54%-43%, in 1916, and Abraham Lincoln lost to a New Jerseyan, Gen. George McClellan, 53%-47%, in 1864. Taft won 57% in 1908 and then finished third with 20.5% in 1912. In 1840, New Jersey went for Wiliam Henry Harrison against Martin Van Buren, 52%-48%.

Also: Hoover (1932), Jimmy Carter (1980), George H.W. Bush (1992), George W. Bush (2004), and Trump (2020)

What’s New Jersey’s Won-Loss record in national elections?

29-13, since the founding of the Republican Party in 1856. New Jersey’s electoral votes unsuccessful presidential candidates: McClellan (1864), Seymour (1868), Samuel Tilden against Rutherford Hayes (1876), Winfield Hancock (1880), Cleveland (1888), Hughes (1916), Thomas Dewey against Harry Truman (1948), Gerald Ford (1976), Al Gore (2000), John Kerry (2004), Hillary Clinton (2016), and Kamala Harris (2024). Stephen Douglas (1860) is not on this list because Lincoln won 4 of 7 electoral votes despite losing New Jersey’s popular vote.

Which major party presidential candidates were from New Jersey?

McClellan (1864) was from West Orange, Winfield Scott (1852) was from Elizabeth, and Woodrow Wilson (1912 and 1916) was from Princeton.

How many Vice Presidents were from New Jersey?
Just one: Garrett Hobart, whose highest office was President of the New Jersey State Senate before William McKinley picked him as his running mate in 1896. Hobart would have become President following McKinley’s assassination if he hadn’t died first. New Jersey has had two other VP nominees: Theodore Frelinghuysen, who ran with Henry Clay in 1844, and William Dayton, the first GOP vice presidential nominee who ran with John Fremont in 1856. Other New Jerseyans received some consideration, including Governors Chris Christie (2016), Richard Hughes (1968), and Alfred Driscoll (1952).

Which unsuccessful presidential candidate did the best in New Jersey?

Gore received 56% in 2000.

Which Presidents lost New Jersey the first time and won it when they sought second terms?

Ulysses Grant lost New Jersey to Horatio Seymour, 51%-49%, in 1868; four years later, Grant defeated Horace Greely, 54.5% to 45.5%.

How often have independent presidential candidates received more than 5% since the Civil War?

Six times. Theodore Roosevelt (33.6%) in 1912, Ross Perot (15.6%) in 1992, Robert LaFollette (10%) in 1924, George Wallace (9%) in 1968, Ross Perot (8.5%) in 1996, and John Anderson (7.9%) in 1980

What’s the most number of electoral votes New Jersey’s had?

Seventeen. New Jersey gained a fifteenth congressional district in 1962 and lost it in 1982, so the state cast 17 electoral votes in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980.

How many Presidents died in New Jersey?

Two. President James Garfield died in Elberon in September 1881, 80 days after being shot by an assassin at a Washington, D.C. train station. The killer was Charles Guiteau, a political gadfly who had been seeking a job in the Garfield administration without success. To escape sweltering temperatures in Washington, the 49-year-old Garfield was moved to a seaside cottage in Elberon; in one day,local residents volunteered to lay about a half a mile of railroad tracks so that the president’s train could travel from the Elberon train station directly to the front door of the cottage so Garfield wouldn’t need to travel by stagecoach.

The other was Caldwell-born Grover Cleveland in 1908; he died at his home at 15 Hodge Road in Princeton.

Who was Henry Krajewski?

A pig farmer from Secaucus, Krajewski ran for President as the candidate of the Poor Man’s Party in 1952, promising a one-year tax moratorium for everyone with an annual income of less than $6,000 (about $72,000 in 2025), and one free pint of milk in school for every child. He was only on the ballot in New Jersey and received 4,203 votes (0.17%). He mounted independent campaigns for Governor in 1953, 1957, and 1961, and U.S. Senator in 1954 and 1958.