The 1937 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1937. Democratic nominee A. Harry Moore defeated Republican nominee Lester H. Clee with 50.84% of the vote.
Primary elections were held on September 21, 1937. Clee defeated Clifford Ross Powell of Burlington County, who had the support of incumbent governor Harold G. Hoffman, for the Republican nomination. Moore was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Republican primary
Candidates
- Lester H. Clee, state senator from Essex County and former Speaker of the Assembly
- Clifford Ross Powell, state senator from Burlington County and former Senate President (1934–35)
Campaign
Powell ran with the support of incumbent Harold G. Hoffman, while Clee ran as the representative of the "clean government" movement in Essex County.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- A. Harry Moore, United States Senator and former Governor
Withdrew
- Elmer H. Wene, U.S. representative from Vineland (withdrew July 15, 1937)
Campaign
On July 11, freshman South Jersey representative Elmer H. Wene joined the race as a challenger to Moore. Wene was an avid supporter of the New Deal and proposed to campaign "strictly on Roosevelt policies". Wene was supported by Moore's Senate colleague William H. Smathers, a fellow South Jerseyan and Roosevelt supporter, and Atlantic City boss Charles Lafferty. The primary was positioned as a referendum on the Roosevelt administration; although Moore and party boss Frank Hague, Moore's political patron and ally, were publicly silent on the New Deal, Hague was widely understood to oppose Roosevelt. However, Wene withdrew his candidacy within days of the announcement, after Smathers withdrew his support in favor of Moore and Lafferty announced his neutrality.
Aftermath
In 1949, Wene gained support from Hague and Moore for governor, but lost the election to Republican incumbent Alfred E. Driscoll.
General election
Candidates
- John C. Butterworth (Socialist Labor)
- Frank Chandler (Communist)
- Lester H. Clee, State Senator from Essex County and former Speaker of the Assembly (Republican)
- Dinshah P. Ghadiali, proponent of chromotherapy (Independent)
- Henry Jager, former New York state assemblyman (Socialist)
- John T. Kurzowski (Independent)
- A. Harry Moore, United States Senator and former Governor (Democratic)
- James F. Murray Sr. (Anti-Hague Independent Labor)
- Eugene A. Smith (Prohibition)