1971Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1971 election for New Jersey Legislative District 9
New Jersey State Senate · New Jersey
Matthew Rinaldo (R) won with 20.6% of the vote, defeating Francis X. McDermott (R) by 3.5 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Matthew RinaldoRepublican · winner · incumbent
20.6%93,608
Francis X. McDermottRepublican · incumbent
17.1%77,536
Jerome M. EpsteinRepublican
15.1%68,531
Carmine J. LiottaDemocrat
15.0%68,131
Christopher DietzDemocrat
14.2%64,487
John T. Connor Jr.Democrat
14.1%63,884
Elmer L. SullivanIndependent
1.4%6,451
Arnold GoldIndependent
1.3%6,047
Richard AvantIndependent
1.2%5,406
454,081 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
The candidates
Matthew Rinaldo (R)Francis X. McDermott (R)Jerome M. Epstein (R)Carmine J. Liotta (D)Christopher Dietz (D)John T. Connor Jr. (D)
Also on the ballot: Elmer L. Sullivan (Independent), 1.4%; Arnold Gold (Independent), 1.3%; Richard Avant (Independent), 1.2%