Jim Florio (left) and Tom Kean
November 3, 1981: New Jersey elects a Governor. But it will be days before anyone in the State knows who it is. It is that close.
Oddly enough, both contenders were born in New York City.
On April 21, 1935, Thomas Howard Kean was born in Manhattan. His grandfather, Hamilton Fish Kean (1862-1941) and his great uncle, John Kean (1852-1914), were U.S. Senators. His father, Robert Kean (1893-1980) was a Congressman, and the namesake of Union County's Kean University.
Another relative was Hamilton Fish, a Senator, a Governor of New York, and Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of State, and the progenitor of a line of politicians named Hamilton Fish. He was also descended from William Livingston, the 1st (post-Revolutionary) Governor of New Jersey.
For most of his life, Tom Kean has lived in the Essex County town named for Governor Livingston -- which also includes the hospital where I was born. He went to a prep school in Massachusetts, which is why he has an upper-class New England accent, notable in his ads for New Jersey tourism: "New Juhsey and you: Puhfect together." The word "patrician" came to mind.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton University, and a master's degree from Columbia University. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1967, was elected its Speaker in 1971, and lost the Republican nomination for Governor in 1977 to State Senator Ray Bateman. In 1981, he tried again, and won the nomination, gaining 31 percent of the Republican Primary vote, with Mayor Pat Kramer of Paterson getting 21 percent.
On August 29, 1937, James Joseph Florio was born in Brooklyn. He dropped out of the Borough's famous Erasmus Hall High School, and earned his GED in the U.S. Navy. He earned a bachelor's degree from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), and a law degree from the Camden campus of Rutgers University.
He became an Assistant City Attorney in Camden, was elected to the Assembly in 1969, and was elected to serve the 1st District, Camden and its suburbs, of the U.S. House of Representatives in the "Watergate Babies" Class of 1974. He wrote the legislation that became the Superfund cleanup system, because he had seen many places in New Jersey that needed more cleaning up than local and State governments could pay for. Despite having grown up in New York Rangers territory, he accepted South Jersey's embrace of Philadelphia's hockey team, and some people nicknamed them "Florio's Flyers."
Florio also ran for Governor in 1977, thinking that the Democratic incumbent, Brendan Byrne, was so unpopular through his passage of the State's 1st income tax that he could be defeated in the Primary. After all, in 1973, Byrne was elected by defeating Representative Charles Sandman, who had beaten the incumbent Republican Governor, William Cahill, running on the idea that Cahill had simply suggested that tax. But Byrne proved hardier than anyone thought, and won the Primary and the general election.
The 1981 Democratic Primary was loaded with local talent, including State Senate President Joseph Merlino (meaning he had, on occasion, already served as Governor when Byrne had left the State); State Attorney General John Degnan; the Mayors of the State's 2 largest cities, Ken Gibson of Newark and Thomas Smith of Jersey City; and Representative Robert Roe, whose District included parts of Essex, Passaic and Bergen Counties. Florio won with 26 percent of the vote, with Roe and Gibson each getting 15 percent. Most likely, this was due to these 3 having the most name recognition.
Although Ronald Reagan had won 52 percent of the vote in New Jersey in the 1980 Presidential election -- he won 18 of the 21 Counties, all but Essex, Hudson and Mercer -- unemployment rose, and Reagan lost a great deal of popularity in the State. So running as Reagan's surrogate in New Jersey wuld not have worked for Kean.
Instead, Kean tied himself to the issue of change, offering a difference with the outgoing, term-limited Byrne. Kean tried to tie Florio to Byrne, while Florio tried to tie Kean to Reagan. Kean argued that the race should be about local issues, while Florio argued that national and international issues affected New Jersey, and that the reverse could also be true with the right Governor.
Going into the election, the polls showed Florio ahead, but within the margin of error, and a large number of undecided voters, from 12 to 19 percent. It was still anyone's ballgame going into November 3.
It was the closest election in the history of the office. On Election Night, 2 local TV stations' news coverage declared Florio the winner, then had to retract those projections. Kean went to his campaign headquarters in Livingston, with his concession speech ready, but his campaign manager told him not to deliver it. By the end of the night, Kean held a lead of 1,677 votes, and neither candidate would concede.
Florio filed a petition for a recount. Given the small margin of Kean's lead, it was understandable. Both candidates started transition teams, so that they would be ready when Byrne's term ended on January 19, 1982. (In New Jersey, the Governor is sworn in on the 3rd Tuesday in January, regardless of the actual date.)
The recount took longer than anyone expected. At one point, the State flag outside the McDonald's in East Brunswick was flying upside-down, and my mother suggested it was in confusion over the election.
But with the recount, Kean's lead grew, if only slightly. On November 30, Florio conceded. On December 2, the official announcement came in: Kean had won by 1,797 votes. One thousand, seven hundred and ninety-seven. Kean had won 1,145,999 votes, for 49.46 percent of the popular vote; Florio, 1,144,202, for 49.38 percent. Scattered 3rd-party and independent candidates won 1.22 percent.
As Governor, Kean became enormously popular by appealing to both sides: To conservatives by cutting taxes, and to liberals by promoting education and environmental protection. He won re-election in 1985, defeating Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro. Having previously won by the smallest margin in State history, Kean had won by nearly 800,000 votes, 69.6 to 29.3, the largest margin. Four years later, Florio tried again, and nearly broke that record, beating Representative Jim Courter, by 541,000 votes, or 61.2 to 37.2, or 24 points.
Florio addressed the budget mess that Kean left behind by raising taxes, angering many people. In 1993, he lost his bid for re-election to Somerset County Freeholder Christine Todd Whitman, by 25,093 votes, 49.33 to 48.29, 1.04 percent. Florio now had the 2nd-biggest win, and the 2 closest losses, in the history of elections for Governor of New Jersey. Four years after that, Whitman was re-elected, beating State Senator Jim McGreevey by 28,426 votes, or 1.05 percent, in each case a little more than 1993.
After his Governorship, Kean became President of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and chaired the 9/11 Commission, making some current Republicans unhappy with what he found and released. As of November 3, 2022, he is still alive, at the age of 87. Florio died on September 25, 2022, at the age of 85.
Kean's son, Tom Kean Jr., was elected to Congress as a Republican in 2022. He is considerably to the right of his father: The son supports Donald Trump, while the father, Governor when Trump established his Atlantic City casinos, has never had any use for him. Florio had 3 children, none of whom entered politics.
Tom Kean Sr. was elected and re-elected after fellow Republican Ronald Reagan was elected President. Starting with Florio's election in 1989, New Jersey has nearly always elected a Governor of the party out of the White House:
* 1988-89: George H.W. Bush, Republican; Jim Florio, Democrat.
* 1992-93: Bill Clinton, Democrat; Christine Todd Whitman, Republican.
* 1996-97: Clinton and Whitman were both re-elected.
* 2000-01: George W. Bush, Republican; Jim McGreevey, Democrat.
* 2004-05: Bush; Jon Corzine, Democrat.
* 2008-09: Barack Obama, Democrat; Chris Christie, Republican.
* 2012-13: Obama and Christie were both re-elected.
* 2016-17: Donald Trump, Republican; Phil Murphy, Democrat.
* 2020-21: Joe Biden, Democrat; Murphy re-elected, breaking the streak. However, both elections were very close, though not as close as Kean vs. Florio in 1981 (or Bush vs. Gore in 2000).
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November 3, 1981 was, like all modern American general Election Days, a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets, 101-98 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has been converted into the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Washington Bullets, 112-99 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 125-110 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-96 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs, 111-88 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. George Gervin led all scorers on the night with 35 points.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 102-100 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
And there were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 2-2 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. The following season, the Rockies moved to the Meadowlands, and became the New Jersey Devils.
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