1956 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary

The 1956 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary was held on April 21, 1956, in New Jersey as one of the Democratic Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1956 United States presidential election.

In the binding delegate primary, uncommitted delegates selected by party leaders and favoring Adlai Stevenson II were challenged by delegates backing Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. However, only one Kefauver delegate, Irwin Le Wine of Caldwell, was elected.^[1]

In the preference primary held at the same time, Kefauver was the only candidate to file to run before the March 8 deadline,^[2] and he received an overwhelming majority of the Democratic vote, though significant write-in votes were cast for Adlai Stevenson II and Robert Meyner.

Entering the middle of April, Estes Kefauver was dominating the Democratic primary elections, having swept the New Hampshire primary and won 28 out of 30 delegates in the Minnesota primary. On April 3, he swept all 28 delegates in the Wisconsin primary.^[3] As early as the rout in Minnesota, supporters of Adlai Stevenson II had begun re-evaluating their candidate's chances at a second consecutive nomination.^[3]

In 1952, Kefauver had been unopposed in the New Jersey preference primary but did not win the support of the state's Democratic convention delegates. In 1956, a group of Kefauver supporters led by Martin J. Rafferty filed to run in the April 17 primary election, challenging the uncommitted slate of delegates led by Governor Robert B. Meyner, which overwhelmingly favored 1952 nominee Adlai Stevenson II.^[2][4] Informed that his delegates would be challenged, Meyner remarked, "I believe we will remain non-committed. The voters will have the choice of our ticket or that pledge to Mr. Kefauver."^[2]

As in 1952, Kefauver was the only candidate to file for the preference primary and therefore the only candidate to appear on the ballot.^[2]

Sixteen delegates were elected at-large on a statewide ticket, and another four were elected from each of the state's 14 congressional districts.^[5] Each delegate would have half a vote at the 1956 Democratic National Convention.

Most Democratic leaders were confident that the organization slate would not be beaten. Kefauver scheduled a brief tour of the state, speaking in Princeton and at Rutgers University on April 6 and returning the following week ahead of the April 17 election.^[2]

In late March, Meyner's executive secretary, Robert J. Burkhardt, invited Kefauver (through his national campaign manager, F. Joseph Donahue) to hold a joint press conference and share lunch with Meyner, but Donahue declined citing scheduling conflicts. Instead, Kefauver expanded his April 6 visit to five days, scheduling additional rallies in Newark, Lakewood, Nutley, and Monmouth County, as well as further visits to Passaic County industrial plants, South Jersey farmers markets, luncheons in Whippany and Linden, and a cocktail party in Teaneck.^[4]

During the primary campaign, Meyner appealed for a vote for his slate as a vote of confidence in his administration as governor.^[3]

On election day, the Meyner slate won a large majority of the vote, defeating Kefauver in every district and conceding only one delegate (worth one-half vote), in Essex County.^[3] In addition, Kefauver received far fewer votes in the preference primary than Dwight D. Eisenhower, the only other candidate on the ballot. In Princeton, where Stevenson had graduated from the prestigious university and Kefauver made a key campaign stop, Kefauver won by a vote of 176 to 124.^[3]

The New Jersey delegate primary was the first major defeat for Kefauver since he had launched his second campaign for the Democratic nomination. Meyner's victory greatly increased Stevenson's odds of nomination and his own national prestige.^[3]

Kefauver withdrew from the race on July 31,^[1] ahead of the Democratic National Convention, and Stevenson was nominated at the convention without opposition.