Lonegan was given zero chance of winning this election, and he waged his campaign with virtually zero resources—and no TV commercials—compared to the eight-figure Booker financial juggernaut. Official Republican party committees in Washington, all rolling in money, spent not a dime. Even in terms of independent expenditures, Lonegan’s handful of outside backers were outspent more than 10 to 1.

Starting from as much as 35 points behind as recently as the aftermath of the August primary, Lonegan wound up losing by 10.3 percentage points, according to nearly complete returns. This was a margin of defeat little more than half of that suffered by Mitt Romney last year and the moderate Republican U. S. Senate nominee last year. As to Senate candidates in deep-blue New Jersey, his 44.3 percent tied for the best GOP percentage since the late Congressman Bob Franks came within 3 points of upsetting Jon Corzine back in 2000.

ran as a hardline libertarian, supporting the supposedly toxic GOP federal lockout (which was in full effect for the last 16 days of the campaign), attacking Social Security and Medicare as well as Obamacare, and even opposing the federal disaster aid meted out to New Jersey in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. On social issues, he opposed legalized abortion including in cases of rape and incest, and firmly backed traditional marriage (and even ridiculed the gay lifestyle) in a state supposedly pining for the immediate enactment of gay marriage.