Senator Frank R. Lautenberg was first elected to the Senate in 1982 in an upset victory over Rep. Millicent Fenwick. In his two re-election bids, Lautenberg had always been an underdog. He beat Pete Dawkins in 1988 by a 54%-46% margin and held back a challenge from Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian by a smaller margin of 50%-47%. However, popular GovernorChristine Todd Whitman was expected to challenge Lautenberg and opinion polls showed Lautenberg losing by a large margin. Lautenberg retired in 2000, but later regretted his decision because both Whitman and former Governor Tom Kean both declined to run for the Senate. Lautenberg would be elected to New Jersey's other Senate seat in 2002 after his colleague Senator Robert Torricelli resigned in disgrace.
Corzine spent $35 million of his fortunes into this primary election alone. Governor Florio was unpopular during his tenure in office. He he signed a $2.8 Billion tax increase in 1990, which resulted in Republicans winning control of the legislature in 1991, and his reelection loss in the 1993 gubernatorial election to Christine Todd Whitman.
Franks, a moderate Republican, attacked Corzine for "trying to buy the election and of advocating big-government spending programs that the nation can ill afford." Corzine accused Franks of wanting to "dismantle" the Social Security system because he supported Governor George W. Bush's partial privatization plan. During the campaign, Corzine refused to release his income tax return records. He claimed an interest in doing so, but he cited a confidentiality agreement with Goldman Sachs. Skeptics argued that he should have followed the example of his predecessor Robert Rubin, who converted his equity stake into debt upon leaving Goldman. Corzine campaigned for state government programs including universal health care, universal gun registration, mandatory public preschool, and more taxpayer funding for college education. He pushed affirmative action and same-sex marriage. David Brooks considered Corzine so liberal that although his predecessor was also a Democrat, his election helped shift the Senate to the left. During Corzine's campaign for the United States Senate, he made some controversial off-color statements. When introduced to a man with an Italian name who said he was in the construction business, Corzine quipped: "Oh, you make cement shoes!" according to Emanuel Alfano, chairman of the Italian-American One Voice Committee. Alfano also reported that when introduced to a lawyer named David Stein, Corzine said: "He's not Italian, is he? Oh, I guess he's your Jewish lawyer who is here to get the rest of you out of jail." Corzine denied mentioning religion, but did not deny the quip about Italians, claiming that some of his own ancestors were probably Italian, or maybe French. Some alleged that Corzine had exchanged endorsements from black ministers for donations, after a foundation controlled by him and his wife donated $25,000 to an influential black church. Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, the director of the Black Ministers Council, and a notable advocate against racial profiling against minority drivers in traffic stops, was criticized for endorsing Corzine after receiving a large donation from the then candidate. Franks generally trailed Corzine in the polls until the very last week, when he pulled even in a few polls. Corzine spent $63 million, while Franks spent only $6 million. Despite being heavily outspent, Franks lost by only three percentage points, doing better that year than Republican Governor George W. Bush in the presidential election, who obtained just 40% of the vote in the state.
