Gubernatorial elections in the United States in 1985
The 1985 United States gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1985. The states of New Jersey and Virginia were elected .
New Jersey
The Republican Thomas Kean , who had been elected to the governorship of New Jersey four years earlier, was able to run for another term of office and was also set up again by his party. The Democratic Party nominated Peter Shapiro , a member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey , who had no chance against the incumbent , as the opposing candidate . Kean was elected to a second term with 69.6 percent of the vote, Shapiro only got 29.3 percent. There were also five other applicants, whose proportions ranged between 0.1 and 0.43 percent. Among them was Jules Levin , 1976 presidential candidate of the Socialist Labor Party , who came in sixth with 0.14 percent of the vote.
Virginia
In Virginia, which has a four-year term limit for governors , Democratic incumbent Chuck Robb was unable to run again. In his place, the Democrats nominated the Attorney General of Virginia, Gerald L. Baliles , who won 55.2 percent of the vote quite clearly against the Republican Wyatt B. Durrette , member of the Virginia House of Representatives .
