NEW JERSEY
      Nov. 6, 2012 Senate                                      

Gov.
 Sen.1
 Sen.2
2021
 x

2020

x
2019


2018
x
2017
 x

2016


2015


2014

x
2013
 x
x
2012


2011


2010


2009
 x

2008


2007


2006


2005


2004


2003


2002


2001


2000


1999


1998


1997


1996


1995


1994


1993


1992


1991


1990


1989



+Bob Menendez (D) i
 		1,985,783
 		58.84%
Joe Kyrillos (R)
 		1,329,405
 		39.39%
Kenneth R. Kaplan (L)
 16,803
 0.50%
Ken Wolski (G)
 15,799
 0.47%
Gwen Diakos (I)
 9,377
 0.28%
J. David Dranikoff (I)
 		3,830
Inder "Andy" Soni (I)
 		3,595
Robert "Turk" Turkavage (I)
 3,544
Greg Pason (S)
 2,256
Eugene M. Lavergne (I)
 2,201
Daryl Brooks (I)
 2,075

3,374,668
Plurality:  656,378 votes (19.45 percentage points)
 NJ Dep't of State Division of Elections



Notes:  In a race between two veteran politicians, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D) won a second full term, defeating state Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R).  Nine other candidates were on the ballot.

Menendez was unchallenged in the Democratic primary.  He was first elected to Union City School District Board of Education in 1974 at age 20.  He was elected Mayor of Union City in 1986, then to the NJ Assembly, serving from 1988-91, and to the NJ Senate in a 1991 special election.  In 1992 he was elected to Congress, and he served until Jan. 2006, when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

In the June 5 primaries Kyrillos garnered 77.1% of the vote, easily defeating three opponents.  Kyrillos worked on Reagan-Bush 1984 campaign and served as a special assistant to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel from 1985-87 during the Reagan administration.  He was first elected to the NJ General Assembly at age 27, serving from 1988-92, and elected to the NJ Senate in 1991.  He also served as chairman of the NJ Republican State Committe from 2001-04, NJ chairman of Mitt Romney's 2008 president campaign, and chairman of Chris Christie's 2009 gubernatorial campaign.

Menendez and Kyrillos debated three times: at Montclair State University, broadcast on NJTV, on Oct. 4 (1, 2); at New Jersey 101.5-FM on Oct. 10 (>); and at WPVI-TV's Trenton bureau on Oct. 13 (>).

At the top of the ticket Obama/Biden defeated Romney/Ryan by 2,122,786 votes (58.34%) to 1,478,088 votes (40.62%), a plurality of 644,698 votes (17.72 percentage points).  260,000-plus more votes were tallied in the presidential race than in the Senate race (3,638,499 votes compared to 3,374,668) and the presidential margin was narrower than the 19.45 percentage point Senate margin. 
 
 According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Menendez campaign spent $16.2 million over the six-year cycle and finished with cash on hand of $1.4 million, while the Kyrillos campaign spent $4.6 million (>).


Campaign Managers:
Bob Menendez:  Michael Soliman
(Mar. 2012)  State director to Sen. Menendez from Sept. 2007; also  statewide political consultant to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Jan.-June 2008.  District director to U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman, Jan. 2003-Sept. 2007.  Bachelor's degree in political science from Saint Peter's University.
 
Joe Kyrillos:  Chapin Fay
Campaign manager on Harry Wilson for NY State Comptroller, 2010.  Counsel to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, 2009-10.  Worked at the NRCC in the 2008 cycle.  Press secretary and director of public affairs for New York Gov. George E. Pataki.  J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, 2007; B.A. in law, jurisprudence and social thought from Amherst College, 2000.


See also:
Matt Friedman and Jarrett Renshaw.  "Menendez, Kyrillos have stark political differences but shared governing style."  nj.com, Oct 14, 2012.




ADVERTISEMENT