| Election Name: | 1965 New Jersey Senate elections |
| Seats1: | 19 |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1963 New Jersey State Senate election |
| Previous Year: | 1963 |
| Next Election: | 1967 New Jersey State Senate election |
| Next Year: | 1967 |
| Seats For Election: | All 29 seats in the New Jersey State Senate |
| Majority Seats: | 15 |
| Election Date: | November 2, 1965 |
| Leader1: | John A. Lynch Sr. |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Leaders Seat1: | 7th district |
| Country: | New Jersey |
| Type: | legislative |
| Last Election1: | 6 |
| Seats Before1: | 6 |
| Seat Change1: | 13 |
| Leader2: | Charles W. Sandman (not running) |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Leaders Seat2: | 1st district |
| Last Election2: | 15 |
| Seats Before2: | 13 |
| Seats2: | 10 |
| Seat Change2: | 3 |
| Senate President | |
| Before Election: | Charles Sandman |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | John A. Lynch Sr. |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,894,155 |
| Popular Vote2: | 2,394,089 |
The 1965 New Jersey State Senate elections were held on November 2.
The elections were the first held after the Supreme Court's Reynolds v. Sims decision, which held that New Jersey's single-seat county apportionment was unconstitutional. The ruling forced New Jersey to grant multiple seats to its largest counties (and eventually, switch to single-member districts that did not follow county lines).
The election also coincided with a landslide re-election victory for Democratic Governor Richard J. Hughes.
The result was a majority for the Democratic Party, the first since 1915.
See also: Reynolds v. Sims. Until 1965, the New Jersey State Senate was composed of 21 senators, with each county electing one senator. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims required legislative districts to be approximately equal in population (a principle known as "one man, one vote"), New Jersey entered a decade-long period of reapportionment.[1]
The overall effect of the reapportioning was to reduce representation for rural counties and increase representation for more populous urban counties, bringing the per person population closer to parity.
In 1965, the Senate was increased to 29 members, with larger counties given multiple seats and some smaller counties sharing one or two Senators:
| County | 1965 District | ∆ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Cape May | ||||
| Gloucester | ||||
| Cumberland | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Salem | ||||
| Camden | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Burlington | 4 | 1 | ||
| Monmouth | 5 | 2 | ||
| Ocean | ||||
| Mercer | 6 | 1 | ||
| Middlesex | 7 | 2 | 1 | |
| Hunterdon | 8 | 1 | 1 | |
| Somerset | ||||
| Union | 9 | 2 | 1 | |
| Morris | 10 | 2 | 1 | |
| Sussex | ||||
| Warren | ||||
| Essex | 11 | 4 | 3 | |
| Hudson | 12 | 3 | 2 | |
| Bergen | 13 | 4 | 3 | |
| Passaic | 14 | 2 | 1 |
| County | Incumbent | Party | New District | Elected Senator | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | Frank S. Farley | Rep | District 1 | John E. Hunt | Rep | ||
| Cape May | Charles W. Sandman | Rep | Frank S. Farley | Rep | |||
| Gloucester | John E. Hunt | Rep | Seat eliminated | ||||
| Cumberland | Robert H. Weber | Dem | District 2 | John A. Waddington | Dem | ||
| Salem | John A. Waddington | Dem | Seat eliminated | ||||
| Camden | Frederick J. Scholz | Rep | District 3 | Frederick J. Scholz | Rep | ||
| New seat | A. Donald Bigley | Dem | |||||
| Burlington | Edwin B. Forsythe | Rep | District 4 | Edwin B. Forsythe | Rep | ||
| Monmouth | Richard R. Stout | Rep | District 5 | Richard R. Stout | Rep | ||
| Ocean | W. Steelman Mathis | Rep | William T. Hiering | Rep | |||
| Mercer | Sido L. Ridolfi | Dem | District 6 | Sido L. Ridolfi | Dem | ||
| Middlesex | John A. Lynch | Dem | District 7 | John A. Lynch | Dem | ||
| New seat | J. Edward Crabiel | Dem | |||||
| Hunterdon | Vacant | District 8 | William E. Ozzard | Rep | |||
| Somerset | William E. Ozzard | Rep | Seat eliminated | ||||
| Union | Nelson F. Stamler | Rep | District 9 | Nelson F. Stamler | Rep | ||
| New seat | Mildred Barry Hughes | Dem | |||||
| Morris | Thomas J. Hillery | Rep | District 10 | Thomas J. Hillery | Rep | ||
| Sussex | Vacant | Milton Woolfenden | Rep | ||||
| Warren | Wayne Dumont | Rep | Seat eliminated | ||||
| Essex | C. Robert Sarcone | Rep | District 11 | Nicholas Fernicola | Dem | ||
| New seat | Macyln Goldman | Dem | |||||
| New seat | John J. Giblin | Dem | |||||
| New seat | Hutchins Inge | Dem | |||||
| Hudson | William F. Kelly | Dem | District 12 | William Musto | Dem | ||
| New seat | William F. Kelly | Dem | |||||
| New seat | Frank Guarini | Dem | |||||
| Bergen | Pierce H. Deamer Jr. | Rep | District 13 | Ned Parsekian | Dem | ||
| New seat | Matt Feldman | Dem | |||||
| New seat | Jeremiah F. O'Connor | Dem | |||||
| New seat | Alfred W. Kiefer | Dem | |||||
| Passaic | Anthony J. Grossi | Dem | District 14 | Anthony J. Grossi | Dem | ||
| New seat | Joseph M. Keegan | Dem | |||||