1959 New Jersey Senate election

1959 New Jersey Senate elections
← 1957 November 3, 1959 1961 →
12 of the 21 seats in the New Jersey State Senate
11 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Joseph W. Cowgill
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat Camden
Last election 13 8
Seats before 12 7
Seats won 11 10
Seat change Decrease 1 Increase 3
Seats up 5 6
Races won 9 2
Senate President before election


Republican

Elected Senate President


Republican

The 1959 New Jersey State Senate elections were held on November 3.

The elections took place midway through the second term of Governor Robert Meyner. Eleven of New Jersey's 21 counties held regular elections for Senator; Cumberland County also held a special election to complete the unexpired term of W. Howard Sharp, who died in December 1958.[1]

Democrats gained three seats (including the vacant seat in Cumberland) and nearly won control of the New Jersey Senate for the first time since 1915; only 567 votes separated victorious Republican Robert C. Crane and Democrat H. Roy Wheeler in Union County.

  1. ^ "W. HOWARD SHARP, LEGISLATOR, DEAD; Jersey State Senator, a Democrat, Had Served as Common Pleas Judge". The New York Times. 18 Dec 1958. p. G2. Retrieved 15 Aug 2021.