1988 United States Senate election in New Jersey

Businessman Frank Lautenberg was elected in 1982 in a hard-fought, come-from-behind upset victory over U.S. Representative Millicent Fenwick. Given his narrow victory and low name recognition, New Jersey Republicans eagerly targeted his seat as a potential victory. Popular second-term Governor Thomas Kean led the efforts to recruit a challenger. ==Democratic primary==

Candidates • Frank Lautenberg, incumbent Senator since 1983 • Elnardo J. Webster, former Hudson County Freeholder • Harold J. Young Campaign Senator Lautenberg formally launched his re-election campaign in April. He ignored his primary opponents, instead focusing on the general election and Pete Dawkins. Results ==Republican primary==

Candidates • Pete Dawkins, financial executive and retired U.S. Army brigadier general Declined • Leonard S. Coleman Jr., New Jersey Commissioner of Community Affairs Campaign In 1987, Governor Thomas Kean recruited Pete Dawkins to move from New York City to Rumson, New Jersey in order to campaign as a Republican for Senate. Kean served as Dawkins's campaign chair. Efforts to recruit Dawkins were paired with efforts to persuade Commissioner of Community Affairs Leonard S. Coleman Jr. against running; Coleman was a personal friend of the Governor and was the early favorite to challenge Lautenberg. Pete Dawkins announced his campaign on March 1 with the enthusiastic endorsement of Governor Kean. At his campaign announcement, Kean praised Dawkins as "the only West Point cadet in history to be the Captain of Cadets, president of his class, captain of the football team and finish in the top 5 percent of his class, and, by the way, pick up a Heisman Trophy and Rhodes Scholarship on the side." Dawkins pledged support for giving a presidential line-item veto and a "sweeping reform" of the federal budget process, while favoring budget cuts, including cuts to military spending, over tax increases. On April 19, President Reagan appeared and spoke at a pre-primary fundraising dinner for Dawkins in Washington D.C., where Dawkins presented Reagan with a football signed by many Heisman Trophy winners. Results Dawkins was unopposed in the primary. == General election ==

Candidates • Pete Dawkins, financial executive and retired U.S. Army brigadier general (Republican) • Thomas A. Fiske (Socialist Workers) • Joseph F. Job, Bergen County Sheriff and candidate for U.S. Senate in 1970 (Independent) • Frank Lautenberg, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1983 (Democratic) • Jerry Zeldin (Libertarian) Campaign With no serious primary threat, Lautenberg and Dawkins targeted each other from early March. Both candidates being political moderates, the campaign quickly turned personal. Dawkins aimed to tie himself to the popular Governor Kean, while Lautenberg leaned on his relationship with New Jersey's more popular senior Senator, Bill Bradley. Dawkins accused Lautenberg of running a smear campaign, called him a "swamp dog", 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. == See also ==