1971Final resultsIncumbent defeated
1971 election for New Jersey Legislative District 12
New Jersey State Senate · New Jersey
William V. Musto (D) won with 17.0% of the vote, defeating James P. Dugan (D) by 0.7 points.
William V. MustoDemocrat · winner · incumbent
17.0%81,522
James P. DuganDemocrat
16.3%78,293
William F. Kelly Jr.Democrat · incumbent
15.9%76,177
Patrick D. ConaghanOther party
9.8%47,082
Francis X. HayesOther party
9.8%47,036
Anthony M. DefinoOther party
9.3%44,703
Joseph J. PanepintoRepublican
7.1%33,985
Cosmo PalmitessaRepublican
6.9%33,131
Mario DelucaRepublican
6.7%32,131
Richard D. McAleerOther party
1.1%5,496
479,556 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1971
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET