| Election Name: | 1971 New Jersey Senate elections |
| Country: | New Jersey |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1967 New Jersey State Senate election |
| Previous Year: | 1967 |
| Next Election: | 1973 New Jersey State Senate election |
| Next Year: | 1973 |
| Seats For Election: | All 40 seats in the New Jersey State Senate |
| Majority Seats: | 21 |
| Election Date: | November 2, 1971 |
| Leader1: | Raymond Bateman |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Leaders Seat1: | 8th Somerset |
| Last Election1: | 31 |
| Seats Before1: | 29 |
| Seats1: | 24 |
| Seat Change1: | 5 |
| Leader2: | J. Edward Crabiel |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Leaders Seat2: | 7th Middlesex |
| Last Election2: | 9 |
| Seats Before2: | 9 |
| Seats2: | 16 |
| Seat Change2: | 7 |
| Senate President | |
| Before Election: | Raymond Bateman[1] |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Raymond Bateman |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | Total of dist. avg. 919,262 |
| Popular Vote2: | Total of dist. avg. 902,180 |
The 1971 New Jersey State Senate Elections was the mid-term election of Republican William Cahill's term as Governor of New Jersey. Democrats picked up seven Senate seats. Sixteen incumbents did not seek re-election.
See also: Reynolds v. Sims. Legislative districts were redrawn by a 10-member bi-partisan New Jersey Apportionment Commission to reflect population changes following the 1970 U.S. Census. Senators generally (with some exceptions) ran At-Large countywide.
Until 1965, the New Jersey State Senate was composed of 21 senators with each county electing one senator. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims required legislative districts to be approximately equal in population (a principle known as "one man, one vote").[2] In 1965, the New Jersey Senate was increased to 29 members, with larger counties given multiple seats and some smaller counties sharing one or two senators.
The map was changed again in 1967, and again in 1971, as the state adjusted to the one man, one vote ruling.
For the 1971 election, two seats were eliminated in District 11 and District 12 (Essex and Hudson counties, respectively). They were replaced by two new seats in the single-member District 4C and District 5 (Burlington and Monmouth counties, respectively). District 6 (now comprising Mercer and Hunterdon County) also switched from electing its senators at-large to electing them from two single-member districts because it became composed of more than one county.
The new districts were divided as follows:
| District | Counties | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape May and Cumberland | 1 |
| 2 | Atlantic | 1 |
| 3A | Salem and Gloucester (part) | 1 |
| 3B | Gloucester (part) and Camden (part) | 1 |
| 3C | Camden (part) | 1 |
| 4A | Ocean (part) | 1 |
| 4B | Burlington (part) and Ocean (part) | 1 |
| 4C | Burlington (part) | 1 |
| 5 | Monmouth | 3 |
| 6A | Hunterdon and Mercer (part) | 1 |
| 6B | Mercer (part) | 1 |
| 7 | Middlesex | 3 |
| 8 | Somerset | 1 |
| 9 | Union | 3 |
| 10 | Morris | 2 |
| 11 | Essex | 5 |
| 12 | Hudson | 3 |
| 13 | Bergen | 5 |
| 14 | Passaic | 3 |
| 15 | Warren and Sussex | 1 |
| District | Incumbent | Party | Elected Senator | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District 1 | Robert E. Kay | Rep | James Cafiero | Rep | |||
| District 2 | Frank S. Farley | Rep | Joseph McGahn | Dem | |||
| District 3A | John L. White | Rep | James M. Turner | Rep | |||
| District 3B | Hugh A. Kelly | Rep | Joseph Maressa | Dem | |||
| District 3C | John L. Miller | Rep | John L. Miller | Rep | |||
| District 3D | Frank C. Italiano | Rep | Frank C. Italiano | Rep | |||
| District 4A | William Hiering | Rep | John F. Brown | Rep | |||
| District 4B | Vacant | Barry T. Parker | Rep | ||||
| District 4C | New seat | Edward J. Hughes | Dem | ||||
| District 5 | Richard Stout | Rep | Richard Stout | Rep | |||
| Alfred Beadleston | Rep | Alfred Beadleston | Rep | ||||
| New seat | Joseph Azzolina | Rep | |||||
| District 6 | Richard J. Coffee | Dem | William Schluter | Rep | |||
| Sido L. Ridolfi | Dem | Joseph P. Merlino | Dem | ||||
| District 7 | John A. Lynch Sr. | Dem | John A. Lynch Sr. | Dem | |||
| J. Edward Crabiel | Dem | J. Edward Crabiel | Dem | ||||
| Norman Tanzman | Dem | Norman Tanzman | Dem | ||||
| District 8 | Raymond Bateman | Rep | Raymond Bateman | Rep | |||
| District 9 | Frank X. McDermott | Rep | Frank X. McDermott | Rep | |||
| Matt Rinaldo | Rep | Matt Rinaldo | Rep | ||||
| Vacant | Jerome Epstein | Rep | |||||
| District 10 | Joseph Maraziti | Rep | Joseph Maraziti | Rep | |||
| Harry L. Sears | Rep | Peter W. Thomas | Rep | ||||
| District 11 | James Wallwork | Rep | James Wallwork | Rep | |||
| David W. Dowd | Rep | Frank J. Dodd | Dem | ||||
| Michael Giuliano | Rep | Michael Giuliano | Rep | ||||
| Milton Waldor | Rep | Ralph DeRose | Dem | ||||
| Geraldo Del Tufo | Rep | Wynona Lipman | Dem | ||||
| Alexander Matturri | Rep | Seat eliminated | |||||
| District 12 | Frederick Hauser | Dem | James P. Dugan | Dem | |||
| William F. Kelly Jr. | Dem | William F. Kelly Jr. | Dem | ||||
| William Musto | Dem | William Musto | Dem | ||||
| Frank J. Guarini | Dem | Seat eliminated | |||||
| District 13 | Willard Knowlton | Rep | Harold Hollenbeck | Rep | |||
| Joseph Woodcock | Rep | Joseph Woodcock | Rep | ||||
| Fairleigh Dickinson Jr. | Rep | Frederick Wendel | Rep | ||||
| Alfred Schiaffo | Rep | Alfred Schiaffo | Rep | ||||
| Garrett Hagedorn | Rep | Garrett Hagedorn | Rep | ||||
| District 14 | Edward Sisco | Rep | Joseph Hirkala | Dem | |||
| Ira Schoem | Rep | William J. Bate | Dem | ||||
| Frank Sciro | Rep | Joseph Lazzara | Dem | ||||
| District 15 | Wayne Dumont Jr. | Rep | Wayne Dumont Jr. | Rep | |||
Two incumbent Republican senators were defeated for re-election:[3]
One incumbent Republican Senator who was denied party support for another term ran in the General Election as Independent candidates and was defeated; Republicans held this seat:[4]
No incumbent Democratic senators were defeated for re-election.
Thirteen incumbent Republican senators did not seek re-election in 1971, and Democrats won six of those seats:[5]
One incumbent Republican Senator was elected to Congress in 1970 and resigned his State Senate seat in January 1971 to take his seats in the U.S. House of Representatives:[6]
One incumbent Republican Senator resigned in 1970 to become a Judge. His seat was won in a November 1971 Special Election by a Democrat, but Republicans held the seat in the November 1971 General Election for a full term:
One incumbent Democratic Senator was defeated for renomination in the June primary and Democrats held that seat:
Two incumbent Democratic senators did not seek re-election in 1971. Democrats won one seat and Republicans won one seat:[8]
Five incumbent Democratic senators were re-elected in 1971:[9]
Fourteen incumbent Republican senators were re-elected in 1971:[10]
Republicans chose Raymond Bateman as the Senate President and Alfred Beadleston as Majority Leader; Republicans named J. Edward Crabiel as Minority Leader.[11]