Matthew Feldman Democratic Joseph P. Merlino Democratic The 1977 New Jersey Senate election coincided with Brendan Byrne's re-election to a second term as Governor of New Jersey.

The election coincided with Governor Brendan Byrne's re-election over Senator Raymond Bateman.

Byrne narrowly survived a primary election that eliminated seven incumbent Democratic Senators.

Despite the intra-party division and early polls indicating Byrne was an underdog in the general election, Byrne survived and the Democrats preserved their large majority in the Senate, with Republicans only gaining three seats.

Democrats chose Joseph P. Merlino as the Senate President and Carmen Orechio as Majority Leader; Republicans named Garrett Hagedorn as Minority Leader.