[1] Byrne barely overcame a large field of challengers, unusual for an incumbent governor, to win the Democratic nomination with just over thirty percent of the vote.

Byrne, whose popularity had plummeted after his landslide 1973 victory and his introduction of the state's first income tax, faced an uphill battle even after surviving the primary.

However, Byrne waged an aggressive campaign, challenging Bateman to several debates and criticizing both his voting record and his comprehensive economic proposals.

In doing so, he ate into Bateman's margin in the polls, softened the unpopularity of the income tax, and flipped his own image as a weak incumbent; by November, he was considered the favorite for re-election, and he won handily.

[2][4] His landslide margin, which was credited to his image as a corruption-proof judge in the immediate wake of the Watergate scandal, swept Democratic supermajorities into both houses of the New Jersey Legislature.

[2] Nevertheless, he began to push for an income tax within his first months in office to provide funding for a court-ordered refinancing of New Jersey's public schools.

Incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford attacked Byrne by name and made veiled references to the income tax during his visits to the state.

[2] Byrne's unpopularity, which was particularly strong in blue-collar Democratic areas where opposition to the tax was strongest,[2] prompted a large field of challengers.

Roe criticized the general business climate in the state, which he said had resulted in an "absolute decline in manufacturing jobs" and "an endangered capital base".

Before entering the race, Florio publicly claimed he had assurances that the South Jersey counties would back him as a bloc, giving him the leverage necessary to solicit northern support.

[5] Joseph A. Hoffman, who had been ousted from Byrne's cabinet as State Commissioner of Labor and Industry the year prior, filled out the main field of challengers.

[13] Governor Byrne himself only entered the race in late April, prompting the anti-Byrne field to largely focus on his low chances for re-election as a detriment to the party.

[4] The primary campaign focused on two major issues: Byrne's personal qualities, especially his decision to back the income tax, and the state of the New Jersey economy.

Jersey City mayor Paul T. Jordan opposed the Concorde, claiming it was "a symbol of technology and embodies everything we are presently concerned about in terms of energy consumption and air pollution".

[10] Gibson ultimately backed Byrne for re-nomination, and Jordan dropped out of the race after losing control of the Jersey City party in the mayoral election.

[4] In June, six leading candidates (Byrne, Roe, Florio, Garramone, Joseph A. Hoffman and Ralph DeRose) met with reporters and editors of The New York Times in a roundtable discussion.

[11] DeRose, who Byrne considered his strongest challenger,[11] faced accusations that he was a machine candidate" due to his endorsements from the Essex County chair Harry Lerner and Jersey City mayor-elect Thomas F. X. Smith.

Roe was the only challenger to pull votes from throughout the state; the others were largely confined to regional bases: DeRose in Essex and Hudson, Florio in Camden and the surrounding counties, and Hoffman in Middlesex and Monmouth.

[2] Byrne immediately went on the offensive following the primary, challenging Bateman to a series of debates and attacking his voting record and lack of clear alternative to the income tax.

[17] Bateman stumbled at times by his excessive forthrightness: when a Philadelphia Inquirer editor asked if he could rule out re-imposing the income tax in a hypothetical second term, he refused.

[17] In October, Bateman attempted to make a late issue of Byrne's nomination of Joseph P. Lordi, a former Essex prosecutor, as head regulator of the new Casino Control Commission.

Both this race and the Virginia gubernatorial election were seen as the earliest tests of the Carter administration's political strength and the potential for a Gerald Ford comeback in 1980.

Byrne's helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at an elementary school en route to his campaign event in West Orange.

The Byrne campaign appealed to state Supreme Court Chief Justice Morris Pashman to keep polls open past 8 p.m., but their request was rejected.

"[2] In the immediate aftermath, observers in both parties agreed that Bateman's economic plan had turned Byrne's greatest political weakness into a strength.