William J. Hughes

Infobox Congressman
honorific-prefix =
name = William J. Hughes
honorific-suffix =

---

state = New Jersey
district = ushr|New Jersey|2|2nd
term_start = January 3, 1975
term_end = January 3, 1995
preceded = Charles W. Sandman, Jr.
succeeded = Frank A. LoBiondo
ambassador_from2 = United States
country2 = Panama
term_start2 = November 7, 1995
term_end2 = October 13, 1998
predecessor2 = Oliver P. Garza
successor2 = Simon Ferro
president2 = Bill Clinton
birth_date = birth date and age|1932|10|17
birth_place = Salem, New Jersey
death_date =
death_place =
nationality =
spouse = Nancy Hughes
party = Democratic Party
relations =
children = Bill, Jr.; Lynne; Barbara; Tama
residence = Ocean City, New Jersey
alma_mater = Rutgers University
occupation = Lawyer / Prosecutor
profession =
religion = Episcopalian


website =
footnotes =

William John "Bill" Hughes (born October 17, 1932) is an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey. He represented ushr|New Jersey|2| in the United States House of Representatives for 20 years.

Biography

Hughes was born in Salem, New Jersey. A graduate of Rutgers University, Hughes earned an A.B. in 1955. He received his Juris Doctor in 1958 from Rutgers School of Law-Camden. In 1959, Hughes opened a private law practice in Ocean City, New Jersey. He served as town solicitor for Upper Township, New Jersey from 1959 to 1961. Hughes lost his first electoral bid for Congress in 1970, but ran again and won in 1974.

As a congressman, he managed the impeachment proceedings against District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne of Nevada in 1986. He served ten consecutive terms of office before retiring from Congress when he was appointed United States Ambassador to Panama (1995–1998). As of 2007, he is again practicing law, serving as counsel to the firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti. [ [http://www.riker.com/people/index.php?id=1270 Biographical sketch from the Riker Danzig website] ]

Congressman Hughes was also sponsor of an amendment (H.AMDT.777) to H.R.4332, the McClure-Volkmer Act (the House version of the Firearm Owners Protection Act) in 1986 that prohibited possession of fully-automatic firearms manufactured after May 19, 1986.

The FAA Technical Center in southern New Jersey was renamed to the William J. Hughes Technical Center in his honor.

Election history

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"
+ ushr|New Jersey|2|: Results 1970, 1974–1992cite web |url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html |title=Election Statistics |accessdate=2007-08-08 |publisher=Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives ] !|Year!!|Democrat!|Votes!|Pct!!|Republican!|Votes!|Pct!!|3rd Party!|Party!|Votes!|Pct!
-
1970|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |64,882
Party shading/Democratic |48%|
Party shading/Republican |Charles W. Sandman, Jr.
Party shading/Republican align="right" |69,392
Party shading/Republican |52%|





-
1974|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |109,763
Party shading/Democratic |57%|
Party shading/Republican |Charles W. Sandman, Jr.
Party shading/Republican align="right" |79,064
Party shading/Republican |41%|
Party shading/Independent |Andrew Wenger
Party shading/Independent |Independent
Party shading/Independent align="right" |2,693
Party shading/Independent align="right" |1%

-
1976|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |141,753
Party shading/Democratic |62%|
Party shading/Republican |James R. Hurley
Party shading/Republican align="right" |87,915
Party shading/Republican |38%|





-
1978|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |112,768
Party shading/Democratic |66%|
Party shading/Republican |James H. Biggs
Party shading/Republican align="right" |56,997
Party shading/Republican |34%|





-
1980|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |135,437
Party shading/Democratic |57%|
Party shading/Republican |Beech N. Fox
Party shading/Republican align="right" |97,072
Party shading/Republican |41%|
Party shading/Libertarian |Robert C. Rothhouse
Party shading/Libertarian |Libertarian
Party shading/Libertarian align="right" |2,262
Party shading/Libertarian align="right" |1%
|*
-
1982|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |102,826
Party shading/Democratic |68%|
Party shading/Republican |John J. Mahoney
Party shading/Republican align="right" |47,069
Party shading/Republican |31%|
Party shading/Libertarian |Bruce Powers
Party shading/Libertarian |Libertarian
Party shading/Libertarian align="right" |1,233
Party shading/Libertarian align="right" |1%

-
1984|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |132,841
Party shading/Democratic |63%|
Party shading/Republican |Raymond G. Massie
Party shading/Republican align="right" |77,231
Party shading/Republican |37%|





-
1986|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |83,821
Party shading/Democratic |68%|
Party shading/Republican |Alfred J. Bennington, Jr.
Party shading/Republican align="right" |35,167
Party shading/Republican |29%|
Party shading/Independent |Len Smith
Party shading/Independent |Pro Life, Anti-Abortion
Party shading/Independent align="right" |3,812
Party shading/Independent align="right" |3%

-
1988|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |134,505
Party shading/Democratic |66%|
Party shading/Republican |Kirk W. Conover
Party shading/Republican align="right" |67,759
Party shading/Republican |33%|
Party shading/Independent |Richard A. Schindewolf, Jr.
Party shading/Independent |Pro-Life Conservative
Party shading/Independent align="right" |2,372
Party shading/Independent align="right" |1%

-
1990|
Party shading/Democratic |William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |97,698
Party shading/Democratic |88%|
Party shading/Republican |"(no candidate)"
Party shading/Republican
Party shading/Republican
|
Party shading/Populist |William A. Kanengiser
Party shading/Populist |Populist
Party shading/Populist align="right" |13,120
Party shading/Populist align="right" |12%

-
1992|
Party shading/Democratic |nowrap|William Hughes
Party shading/Democratic align="right" |132,465
Party shading/Democratic |56%|
Party shading/Republican |Frank A. LoBiondo
Party shading/Republican align="right" |98,315
Party shading/Republican |41%|
Party shading/Libertarian |Roger W. Bacon
Party shading/Libertarian |Libertarian
Party shading/Libertarian align="right" |2,575
Party shading/Libertarian align="right" |1%
|*
-
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

* Minor candidate notes: In 1980, Adele Frisch ran from the Socialist Labor party and garnered 939 votes (<1%). In 1992, Joseph Ponczek ran under the Anti-Tax party and had 2,067 votes (1%) cast for him; Andrea Lippi ran under the "Freedom, Equality, Prosperity" party and got 1,605 votes (1%).

ee also

*U.S. Congressional Delegations from New Jersey#United States House of Representatives

References

External links

*CongLinks|congbio=H000930
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/hughes.html#R9M0J1D4T William John Hughes] at The Political Graveyard