2005 New Jersey gubernatorial election


The 2005 New Jersey gubernatorial election was a race to determine the Governor of New Jersey. It was held on November 8, 2005. Democratic Governor Richard Codey, who replaced Governor Jim McGreevey in 2004 after his resignation, did not run for election for a full term of office.
The primary election was held on June 7, 2005. U.S. Senator Jon Corzine won the Democratic nomination with no serious opposition. Former West Windsor Mayor Doug Forrester received the Republican nomination with a plurality of 36%. Corzine defeated Forrester in the general election. New Jersey is reliably Democratic at the federal level, but as of 2019, this was the only time since 1977 in which Democrats won more than one consecutive gubernatorial election in the state.
The 2005 general election also saw a public referendum question on the ballot for the voters to decide whether to create a position of lieutenant governor, alter the state's order of succession, and whether the state's first lieutenant governor would be chosen in the subsequent gubernatorial election held in 2009. The question passed by a tally of 836,134 votes to 655,333

Democratic primary

Candidates

Republican primary

Candidates

General election

Candidates

Major

The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission declared that the four candidates would be included in the official gubernatorial debates to be aired on NJN. They included Jeffrey Pawlowski and Hector Castillo.

Results

;Results by county
CountyCorzine votesCorzine %Forrester votesForrester %Other votesOther %
Atlantic34,53953.3%28,00443.2%2,2383.5%
Bergen142,31955.6%108,01742.2%5,6832.2%
Burlington64,42150.5%57,90845.4%5,2034.1%
Camden76,95560.4%45,07935.4%5,4584.3%
Cape May14,37545.2%16,17950.9%1,2433.9%
Cumberland18,58057.2%12,69239.0%1,2313.8%
Essex131,31272.7%45,78925.4%3,4561.9%
Gloucester41,12853.2%33,22543.0%3,0043.9%
Hudson87,40975.4%25,76922.2%2,6912.3%
Hunterdon15,00433.6%27,52161.6%2,1794.9%
Mercer56,59257.1%38,87139.2%3,5963.6%
Middlesex107,17656.0%75,02139.2%9,0854.7%
Monmouth85,18743.8%101,08551.9%8,3764.3%
Morris60,98641.3%82,55056.0%3,9972.7%
Ocean71,95341.6%93,69354.2%7,2424.2%
Passaic61,80357.9%41,53238.9%3,4133.2%
Salem10,05748.6%9,60846.5%1,0084.9%
Somerset40,45943.3%49,40652.8%3,6613.9%
Sussex14,85435.1%25,28359.7%2,1825.2%
Union77,98259.2%50,03638.0%3,6772.8%
Warren11,46036.8%18,00357.9%1,6545.3%