NEW JERSEY
      Nov. 3, 2009 Governor

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 Sen.2
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+Chris Christie/Kim Guadagno (R)
1,174,445
 		48.45%
Jon Corzine/Loretta Weinberg (D) i
 		1,087,731
 		44.88%
Chris Daggett/Frank Esposito (I)
 		139,579
 		5.76%
Kenneth Kaplan/John Paff (I)
 		4,830
 <0.2%
Gary Steele/Theresa Nevins (I)
 		3,585
Jason Cullen/Gloria Leustek (I)
 		2,869
David R. Meiswinkle/Noelani Musicaro (I)
 		2,598
Kostas Petris/Kevin Davies (I)
 		2,563
Gregory Pason/Constantine Rozzo (I)
 		2,085
Gary Stein/Cynthia Stein (I)
 		1,625
Joshua Leinsdorf/Ubaldo Figliola (I)
 		1,021
Alvin Lindsay, Jr./Eugene Harley (I)
 		753
Personal Choice
 		108

2,423,792
Plurality: 86,714 votes, 3.58 percentage points.
NJ Dep't of State Division of Elections


REPUBLICAN PICK-UP
Notes: Gov. Jon Corzine (D) lost his bid for a second term to former U.S. District Attorney Chris Christie (R) (1, 2).  Former NJ Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Chris Daggett, running as an independent, finished with 5.8-percent of the vote, although some polling had shown him in double digits.

The 2008 financial crisis had a huge impact on this race, as it forced Gov. Corzine to make difficult budgetary decisions.  In Spring 2009, with the State facing "a $7 billion shortfall for FY 10," Corzine proposed $4 billion in spending cuts and revenue raising measures including a one-year increase in the top income tax rate and a one-year suspension of the property tax deduction for high income households.

Four Democrats and three Republicans competed in the June 9 primary election.  Corzine tallied 154,448 votes (77.2%) to 45,672 for his three little known opponents.  Christie tallied 184,085 votes (55.1%) followed by Americans for Prosperity state director and former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan at 140,946 (42.2%) and Assemblyman Rick Merkt 9,184 (2.8%).

2009 marked the first time New Jersey voters elected a lieutenant governor.  In 2006 voters approved a referendum to create the position; formerly the president of the State Senate had filled in when the governor was absent.  Christie announced his choice of Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno on July 20; Corzine announced state Sen. Loretta Weinberg on July 25; and Daggett announced Frank Esposito, interim dean at Kean University's College of Education, on July 27.

Corzine, Christie and Daggett participated in four debates and forums:

Oct. 1 - hosted by New Jersey Public Television in Trenton (>);

Oct. 6 - New Jersey Network taped forum with separate appearances by the three candidates (>);

Oct. 16 - at William Paterson University in Wayne;

Oct. 22 - radio debate on WBGO 88.3FM, a Newark-based jazz station.

According to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, candidate committees spent a total of $56.1 million, $14.8 million during the primary and $41.3 million during the general election.  The Corzine campaign spent $32.0 million, most of which came from the candidate, the Christie campaign $17.6 million, and the Daggett campaign $1.9 million.


 Campaign Managers:
Chris Christie:  Bill Stepien
National field director on John McCain's presidential campaign from July 2008, after starting as regional campaign manager for NY and NJ from April 2008.  National field director on Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign (announced Feb. 14, 2007).  National 72-Hour director at the RNC in 2005-06.  New Hampshire state field director for President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004.  In 2003, Stepien managed Bill Baroni's State Assembly campaign (New Jersey’s only successful Republican State Assembly challenger campaign).  He has also worked for Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican polling firm, and on Bob Franks’ 2000 campaign for U.S. Senate and Anthony Bucco's 1997 campaign for State Senate.
 
Jon Corzine:  Maggie Moran
(Jan. 2009)  Chief of management and operations for State of New Jersey, Jan. 2006-Dec. 2008.  Managed 2005 New Jersey Coordinated Campaign.  Key figure on former Sen. Lautenberg's 2002 U.S. Senate campaign.  Managed the 2001 New Jersey Coordinated Campaign.  New Jersey state director for Gore-Lieberman.  State director for Sen. Frank Lautenberg from 1998 to July 2000.  Political director for the NJ Dem. State Committee during 1997-98; director of rapid response/operations for the 1996  coordinated campaign.  Bachelor's in political science from Douglass College at Rutgers University, 1996.

Chris Daggett:  Tom Johnson
 

See also:
New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission: "Spending Totals By Candidate By Election."
 
--.  "Key Decision Makers Look Back at N.J.'s 2009 Gubernatorial Race."  Rider University, Feb. 19, 2010.

Claire Heininger.  "Gov. Jon Corzine spent $25M of his own money on losing re-election bid."  NJ.com, Dec. 1, 2009.

Paul Freedman and Evan Tracey.  "Seeing Spots: Campaign Advertising in the 2009 Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial Races."  UVA Center for Politics, Oct. 22, 2009.

Michael Falcone.  "Daggett gaining in N.J."  Politico, Oct. 13, 2009.

David M. Halbfinger.  "Independent Candidate Stirs Up the Governor's Race in New Jersey."  The New York Times, Oct. 11, 2009.

Chris Heininger.  "Corzine touts lieutenant governor selection Loretta Weinberg at rally.  NJ.com, July 25, 2009.

Josh Margolin.  "Christie introduces Monmouth Sheriff Kim Guadagno as GOP lieutenant governor."  NJ.com, July 20, 2009.

Zachary Abrahamson.  "N.J. governor's race could get ugly."  Politico, June 19, 2009.

Katie Benner.  "The public pension bomb."  CNN, May 12, 2009.
David Rousseau.  "Treasurer Rousseau Addresses Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on FY 2010 Budget."  State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury, April 6, 2009.







 




 


















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