1973 New Jersey gubernatorial election
November 6, 1973
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| Turnout | 61.4% of eligible voters (12.8 pp) | ||||||||||||||||
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Byrne: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Sandman: 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in New Jersey |
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The 1973 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1973. Incumbent Governor William T. Cahill ran for reelection, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Charles W. Sandman Jr. In the general election, Democratic nominee Brendan Byrne defeated Sandman with 66.67% of the vote.
Primary elections were held on June 5. Sandman defeated Governor Cahill, whose reputation had been damaged by a series of corruption scandals, in a rematch of the 1969 Republican primary; his victory "shocked party leaders throughout the state." Byrne, a judge and former prosecutor who had a reputation for resistance to corruption, defeated Ann Klein and Ralph DeRose to win the Democratic nomination.
Byrne carried 20 of New Jersey's 21 counties, with Sandman only winning his native Cape May. To date, this remains the largest margin of victory and share of the vote for the Democratic Party in a gubernatorial election. This is the only gubernatorial election in which the Democratic nominee won Morris County between 1931 and 2025, as well as the only time since 1937 that Sussex County did so. This election was also the last time the incumbent New Jersey governor was defeated in the primary. Byrne held the record for most votes ever to be received by a single candidate in a New Jersey gubernatorial election until both Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli surpassed his record in 2025.