United States Senate election in New Jersey, 1988

United States Senate election in New Jersey, 1988

November 8, 1988

Nominee Frank Lautenberg Pete Dawkins Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,599,905 1,349,937 Percentage 54.23% 45.77%

U.S. Senator before election Frank Lautenberg Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg Democratic

The 1988 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg won re-election to a second term. Mr. Lautenberg won a second term with a margin of 8.46%.

Candidates

Democratic

• Frank Lautenberg, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1982

Republican

• Pete Dawkins, military veteran and CEO of Primerica Financial Services, Inc.

General election campaign

The campaign was full of political mudslinging, with Lautenberg accusing Dawkins of being a carpetbagger, noting his very brief residency in the state,^[1] and also accusing Dawkins' campaign of lying about his war record.^[2] Dawkins accused Lautenberg of running a smear campaign against, called him a "swamp dog",^[3] and criticized him for saying he voted eight times against a senatorial pay raise without mentioning the fact that he did vote once for the pay raise.^[2]

Results

General election results[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Frank Lautenberg (inc.)	1,599,905	54%
	Republican	Pete Dawkins	1,349,937	46%

References

1. Otterbourg, Robert (June 26, 1988). "NEW JERSEY OPINION; Carpetbagging is Not a Real Issue". New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
2. Povich, Elaine S. (October 20, 1988). "New Jersey Senate Race A Mudslide". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
3. May, Clifford D. (October 26, 1988). "For Senate Rivals in Jersey, It's Personal". New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
4. http://www.njelections.org/1988results/1988-general-election-results-us-senate.pdf