Grover Cleveland, who ran for president after winning the governorship of New York and the mayorship of Buffalo, was the only president born in New Jersey.
Cleveland, who was born in Caldwell, is still the only person from Essex County to be elected president.Yes, that was a rather overt jab.
Cleveland, a Democrat, won New Jersey in each of his three presidential attempts.
In 1884, he defeated James Blaine by a margin of 50% to 47%.
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won Cleveland, but the incumbent president won New Jersey by a margin of 50% to 48%.
Cleveland defeated New Jersey 51%-46% in his rematch in 1892.
Cleveland left the White House in 1897 and retreated to Princeton. Some Democrats attempted to select him as their nominee for the US Senate that year.
Other Presidential Elections Following the Civil War
In three of the next four presidential elections following the Civil War, New Jersey supported Democratic candidates.
When Ulysses Grant stood for reelection against Horace Greeley in 1872, he won the state by a 54.5%-45.5% margin, although he lost New Jersey to Horatio Seymour 51%-49% in 1868.
In 1876, New Jersey supported Samuel Tilden, the governor of New York, over Rutherford Hayes (53%–47%), and in 1880, it supported Winfield Hancock against James Garfield (50%–49%).
In the three elections that followed Cleveland’s retirement, New Jersey voted Republican.
In 1896, William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan by a landslide, winning New Jersey by a margin of 60% to 36%. In that election, Garret Hobart, a former senator from New Jersey, was chosen as vice president.
When McKinley ran for reelection in 1900, he defeated Bryan by a 55%-41% margin in New Jersey.
In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt won New Jersey by a 57%-38% margin, and in Bryan’s third presidential attempt, William Howard Taft won by a 57%-39% edge.
