2013

Salamanca was an independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey in 2013. She and running-mate William Araujo, who ran for governor, appeared on a joint ticket in the general election on November 5, 2013. The pair lost to incumbents Chris Christie and Kim Guadagno.

• General Election

On November 5, 2013, Chris Christie and Kim Guadagno (R) won re-election as Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey. They defeated the Buono/Silva (D), Kaplan/Bell (L), Welzer/Alessandrini (I), Sare/Todd (I), Araujo/Salamanca (I), Schroeder/Moschella (I) and Boss/Thorne (I) ticket(s) in the general election.

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, 2013

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Republican	Chris Christie & Kim Guadagno	60.3%	1,278,932
Democratic	Barbara Buono & Milly Silva	38.2%	809,978
Libertarian	Kenneth Kaplan & Brenda Bell	0.6%	12,155
Independent	Steven Welzer & Patricia Alessandrini	0.4%	8,295
Independent	Diane Sare & Bruce Todd	0.2%	3,360
Independent	William Araujo & Maria Salamanca	0.2%	3,300
Independent	Hank Schroeder & Patricia Moschella	0.1%	2,784
Independent	Jeff Boss & Robert Thorne	0.1%	2,062
Total Votes			2,120,866
Election Results Via: New Jersey Department of State

Primaries

Incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono each faced a single opponent in the June 4 primary election. Christie and Buono won their respective parties' nominations with roughly 90 percent of the vote apiece.

Former Atlantic City Councilman Seth Grossman was the sole Republican to challenge the first-term governor. Grossman's campaign criticized Christie for actions taken during his first term, while Buono's opponent Troy Webster, adviser to the mayor of East Orange, argued that he was uniquely suited to making New Jersey friendlier to "the working poor and middle class families who have been literally 'thrown under the bus.'" Grossman and Webster were endorsed by the weekly publication NJ Today.

Selection of running mates

In New Jersey, gubernatorial candidates have 30 days to select a lieutenant gubernatorial running mate with whom to share their ticket in the general election. Immediately after launching his re-election campaign, Christie announced that he would once again run alongside Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Buono, meanwhile, waited until July 29 to announce her choice of union leader Milly Silva, the executive vice president of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, as her running mate. The ticket went up against incumbent pairing Chris Christie and Kim Guadagno in addition to a number of third-party opponents in the general election contest that took place on November 5, 2013.

Polling

Christie was favored to win re-election, with his campaign raising nearly double that of Buono's in the primary and maintaining a double-digit advantage in the polls throughout the election season. In the final week before the general election, Christie boasted a 24.3 percent average polling lead.

Public financing

Since 1977, New Jersey gubernatorial primary and general election candidates can qualify for a public funding program whereby candidates who raise a minimum amount of money are dispensed tax-generated funds, controlled by the state election law enforcement commission, in direct proportion to campaign donations given from the public. In 2013, the qualifying sum for primary gubernatorial candidates was $380,000. The purpose of the program is to lessen the influence of corporate contributions in elections. On February 2, 2013, then-presumptive Democratic nominee Barbara Buono's campaign reported that it had surpassed the $380,000 mark. By that time, Christie's campaign had raised $2 million. Compared to 2009 when Christie used matching funds in both the primary and general election phases, in 2013 he waited until after the primary to opt into the program. With matching funds, Christie became eligible for an additional $8 million approximately. The qualifying terms also required him to participate in two debates with Buono before the general election.