1996 U.S. Senate Campaign
In 1995, Zimmer lined up support to run in the following year's United States Senate elections, becoming the front-runner among Republicans seeking to face Democratic incumbent Bill Bradley. On August 16, 1995, Bradley announced that he would not seek reelection. Zimmer formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 1996, having already secured the endorsement of Governor Christine Todd Whitman and other leading Republicans. In the Republican primary he won with 68 percent of the vote, defeating Passaic County Freeholder Richard DuHaime (20 percent) and State Senator Dick LaRossa (12 percent).
After a bitter and expensive campaign that focused partly on Zimmer's authorship of the federal version of Megan's Law, Zimmer lost to Democratic Congressman Robert Torricelli by a vote of 1,519,328 (53 percent) to 1,227,817 (43 percent).
Read more about this topic: Dick Zimmer (New Jersey Politician)
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