1925 New Jersey gubernatorial election
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1925 New Jersey gubernatorial election
| country = New Jersey
| flag_year = 1896
| type = Presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1922 New Jersey gubernatorial election
| previous_year = 1922
| next_election = 1928 New Jersey gubernatorial election
| next_year = 1928
| election_date = November 3, 1925
| image1 = File:A Harry Moore 1927.jpg
| image_size = 150x150px
| nominee1 = A. Harry Moore
| party1 = Democratic Party (United States)
| popular_vote1 = 471,549
| percentage1 = 51.87%
| image2 = File:Arthur Whitney (cropped).jpg
| nominee2 = Arthur Whitney
| party2 = Republican Party (United States)
| popular_vote2 = 433,121
| percentage2 = 47.64%
| map_image = 1925 New Jersey gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
| map_size = 280px
| map_caption = County results
Moore: {{legend0|#7996e2|50–60%}} {{legend0|#584cde|70–80%}}
Whitney: {{legend0|#ffb2b2|40–50%}} {{legend0|#e27f7f|50-60%}} {{legend0|#d75d5d|60–70%}}
| title = Governor
| before_election = George Sebastian Silzer
| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)
| after_election = A. Harry Moore
| after_party = Democratic Party (United States)
}}
{{ElectionsNJ}}
The 1925 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1925. Democratic Jersey City Commissioner A. Harry Moore defeated Republican State Senator Arthur Whitney with 51.87% of the vote.
Primary elections were held in June. Whitney defeated former New Jersey Attorney General Thomas F. McCran and judge Cornelius Doremus.
Democratic primary
=Candidates=
- A. Harry Moore, Jersey City Commissioner
=Results=
{{Election box begin no change|title=1925 Democratic gubernatorial primary{{cite news|title=WHITNEY WON BY 31,986: Formal Statement of Jersey Primary Puts Total Vote at 493,348|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/07/09/99349318.html|date=July 9, 1925|newspaper=The New York Times}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
| candidate = A. Harry Moore
| party = Democratic Party (US)
| votes = 105,330
| percentage = 84.64%
}}
{{Election box write-in with party link no change
| votes = 19,108
| percentage = 15.36%
}}
{{Election box total no change
| votes = 124,438
| percentage = 100.00%
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
| candidate = Rejected ballots
| party = Democratic Party (US)
| votes = 1,471
| percentage =
}}
{{Election box turnout no change
| votes = 125,909
| percentage =
}}
{{Election box end}}
Republican primary
=Candidates=
- Cornelius Doremus, former judge from Ridgefield{{cite news|title=STATE CAMPAIGN EXPENSES.; McCran Spent $16,169, Whitney $37,082 and Doremus $18,082.|date=14 Jun 1925|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/06/14/archives/state-campaign-expenses-mccran-spent-16169-whitney-37082-and.html|page=E3|access-date=12 Jul 2022}}
- Thomas F. McCran, former New Jersey Attorney General (1919–24) and State Senator for Passaic County
- Arthur Whitney, State Senator for Morris County
=Campaign=
McCran had the support of Senator Walter Evans Edge and much of the state party establishment. Whitney was supported by the prohibitionist Anti-Saloon League.{{cite news |title= T. F. M'Cran Dies After Campaign |newspaper=The New York Times |page=E7 |date=20 Sep 1925 |access-date=18 Aug 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/09/20/archives/t-f-mh-die-ter-campaign-olowlng-defeat-in-new-jersey-gubernatorial.html }}
Establishment support for McCran was so strong that the party moved its primary from September to June, apparently to advantage McCran. Nevertheless, Whitney remained confident, expressing, "the Republican voters will repudiate the boss-ridden machine supporting my opponent."{{cite news|title=THE NEW JERSEY PRIMARY|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/06/18/104278658.html?pageNumber=20|newspaper=The New York Times |page=20 |date=18 Jun 1925 |access-date=12 Jul 2022}}
The third candidate in the race, judge Cornelius Doremus, ran as an ardent supporter of Prohibition. Near the end of the campaign, he wrote a public letter to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Lincoln C. Andrews, congratulating him on his work to disrupt rum smuggling in the Atlantic Ocean.
Whitney accused Doremus, a former Democrat, of trying to draw prohibitionist votes away from his campaign and of being in league with McCran and the state party. On the night before the primary, he declared, "They are in flagrant combination against me."
=Fundraising=
The primary spending limit under the law at the time was $50,000. Senator Edge contributed $5,000 to McCran's campaign, and McCran contributed the same amount himself. Whitney and Doremus contributed the bulk of their own campaign funds, at $42,000 and $19,350 respectively.
=Results=
Whitney won the primary by around 27,000 votes over McCran, with Doremus around another 43,000 votes behind McCran's total.
{{Election box begin no change|title=1925 Republican gubernatorial primary}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
| candidate = Arthur Whitney
| party = Republican Party (US)
| votes = 155,248
| percentage = 42.67%
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
| candidate = Thomas F. McCran
| party = Republican Party (US)
| votes = 123,262
| percentage = 33.88%
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
| candidate = Cornelius J. Doremus
| party = Republican Party (US)
| votes = 59,593
| percentage = 16.38%
}}
{{Election box write-in with party link no change
| votes = 25,753
| percentage = 7.08%
}}
{{Election box total no change
| votes = 363,856
| percentage = 100.00%
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
| candidate = Rejected ballots
| party = Republican Party (US)
| votes = 2,863
| percentage =
}}
{{Election box turnout no change
| votes = 366,719
| percentage =
}}
{{Election box end}}
=Aftermath=
General election
=Candidates=
- John C. Butterworth (Socialist Labor)
- Leo M. Harkins (Socialist)
- A. Harry Moore, Jersey City Commissioner (Democratic)
- Eugene A. Smith (Prohibition)
- George Perlman (Workers)
- Joseph Ferguson (Commonwealth Land)
- Arthur Whitney, State Senator for Morris County (Republican)
=Campaign=
For the third straight election, the campaign was split between prohibitionist Republicans and anti-Prohibition Democrats, and for the third straight election, the Democratic candidate won.
=Results=
{{Election box begin | title=New Jersey gubernatorial election, 1925{{cite web|url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/1920-1970-results/1925-general-election.pdf |title=Votes Cast for the Office of Governor of the State of New Jersey |publisher=Secretary of State of New Jersey |year=1925 |access-date=September 5, 2015}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
| party = Democratic Party (United States)
| candidate = A. Harry Moore
| votes = 471,549
| percentage = 51.87%
| change =–0.32%
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Arthur Whitney|votes=433,121|percentage=47.64%|change=+0.82%}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Socialist Party of America|candidate=Leo M. Harkins|votes=1,956|percentage=0.22%|change=–0.47%}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Prohibition Party|candidate=Eugene A. Smith|votes=1,198|percentage=0.13%|change=N/A}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Socialist Labor Party of America|candidate=John C. Butterworth|votes=594|percentage=0.07%|change=N/A}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Independent politician|candidate=George Perlman|votes=591|percentage=0.07%|change=N/A}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Independent politician|candidate=Joseph Ferguson|votes=153|percentage=0.02%|change=N/A}}
{{Election box total
| votes = 909,162
| percentage = 100.00%}}
{{Election box majority||votes=38,428|percentage=4.23%|change=–1.14%}}
{{Election box turnout||votes=909,162|percentage=69.47%|change=}}
{{Election box registered electors
|reg. electors = 1,308,674}}
{{Election box hold with party link|
| winner = Democratic Party (United States)
| loser =
| swing = –0.57%
}}
{{Election box end}}
=Results by county=
| style="width:60%;" class="wikitable sortable" |
| style="background:lightgrey;"
! style="width:3%;" rowspan=2| County ! style="width:2%;" colspan="2" |Moore ! style="width:2%;" colspan=2| Whitney ! style="width:2%;" colspan=2| Others !Total ! colspan="2" |Margin |
| Votes
! Percent ! Votes ! Percent ! Votes ! Percent !Votes !Votes !Percent |
|---|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Atlantic |13,207 |41.06% |18,739 |58.25% |221 |0.69% |32,167 | -5,532 | -17.19% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Bergen |33,507 |42.42% |45,013 |56.98% |472 |0.60% |78,992 | -11,506 | -14.56% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Burlington |8,473 |37.42% |14,111 |62.32% |60 |0.26% |22,644 | -5,638 | -24.90% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Camden |22,525 |41.40% |31,431 |57.77% |448 |0.83% |54,404 | -8,906 | -16.37% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Cape May |3,311 |37.58% |5,470 |62.09% |29 |0.33% |8,810 | -2,159 | -26.10% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Cumberland |5,475 |33.71% |10,675 |65.73% |90 |0.56% |16,240 | -5,200 | -32.02% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Essex |65,158 |49.64% |65,449 |49.86% |661 |0.50% |131,268 | -291 | -0.22% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Gloucester |5,901 |34.54% |11,008 |64.42% |178 |1.04% |17,087 | -5,107 | -29.88% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Democratic}}|Hudson |152,582 |75.54% |48,587 |24.05% |828 |0.41% |201,997 |103,995 |51.49% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Hunterdon |5,393 |45.50% |6,418 |54.14% |43 |0.36% |11,854 | -1,025 | -8.64% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Mercer |19,276 |49.22% |19,801 |50.56% |88 |0.22% |39,165 | -525 | -1.34% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Democratic}}|Middlesex |26,873 |52.99% |23,672 |46.67% |173 |0.34% |50,718 |3,201 |6.32% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Monmouth |20,390 |46.26% |23,618 |53.58% |73 |0.16% |44,081 | -3,228 | -7.32% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Morris |12,284 |39.41% |18,748 |60.14% |137 |0.44% |31,169 | -6,464 | -20.73% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Ocean |4,116 |37.79% |6,744 |61.92% |31 |0.29% |10,891 | -2,628 | -24.13% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Democratic}}|Passaic |28,791 |51.66% |26,421 |47.41% |517 |0.93% |55,729 |2,370 |4.25% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Salem |3,813 |37.37% |6,324 |61.99% |65 |0.64% |10,202 | -2,511 | -24.62% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Somerset |6,835 |41.73% |9,506 |58.03% |40 |0.24% |16,381 | -2,671 | -16.30% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Sussex |4,354 |47.20% |4,836 |52.43% |34 |0.37% |9,224 | -482 | -5.23% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Union |23,552 |43.94% |29,813 |55.62% |239 |0.44% |53,604 | -6,261 | -11.68% |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{party shading/Republican}}|Warren |5,733 |45.74% |6,737 |53.74% |65 |0.52% |12,535 | -1,004 | -8.00% |
| Total
|471,549 |51.87% |433,121 |47.64% |4,492 |0.49% |909,162 |38,428 |4.23% |
References
{{Reflist}}{{1925 United States elections|state=collapsed}}