New Jersey gubernatorial election, 1989
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County results key:
Florio 50–60%
Florio 60–70%
Florio 70–80%
Courter 50–60%
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The New Jersey gubernatorial election of 1989 was a race for Governor of New Jersey held on November 7, 1989. Incumbent Republican Governor Thomas Kean was term-limited having been elected to served two consecutive terms. Democrat James Florio, a U.S. Representative from the 1st district and a two-time unsuccessful candidate for Governor, defeated 12th district Republican Representative Jim Courter in a 24-point landslide. Until 2017, this is the last time Somerset County went for a Democratic candidate for governor.
Primary elections for the Republican and Democratic parties were held on Tuesday June 6, 1989.
Major party candidates
Other independent candidates
Florio, who had run in the Democratic primary for Governor in 1977 and lost in an extremely close general election in 1981 to outgoing Governor Thomas Kean, stressed in this campaign that he would govern closer to Kean than the conservative Congressman Courter and that despite the economic growth under Kean and the Reagan administrations, he would lead an active government to combat potential overdevelopment and pollution. Following a Supreme Court ruling that would allow states to impose regulations on abortions, the pro-choice Florio won the votes of those in favor of abortion rights while Courter who comprised an anti-abortion voting record in Congress sought to moderate his views which led to distrust among voters. To moderate his positions, Florio promised a wider use of the state death penalty for drug crimes and not to raise taxes (the latter promise would be broken in 1990 when he signed a $2.8-billion tax increase which would lead to his 1993 defeat).
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