Gorman served with Kenneth A. Gewertz from 1972 to 1974 representing District 3B in the New Jersey General Assembly. When the New Jersey Legislature was reorganized into its current structure of 40 districts, Gorman and Gewertz were elected to three terms representing the 4th Legislative District from 1974 to 1980. In 1979, James Florio, then a Congressman, encouraged Daniel Dalton and Dennis L. Riley to run in the June primary under the label of the "Florio Democratic Team" against incumbents Gewertz and Gorman, who had the support of Angelo Errichetti and the Camden County Democratic Organization.[3] Dalton (with 31.3% of the vote) and Riley (with 28.3%) won the two ballot spots in the primary balloting.[4] Dalton and Riley were elected in the November 1979 general election.
He was elected together with Wayne R. Bryant and represented the 5th Legislative District from 1982 until March 16, 1987, when Gorman resigned from the New Jersey General Assembly because of poor health. In a July 1987 special election, Joseph J. Roberts was chosen to fill Gorman's vacant seat.[2]
He died at a hospital in Gloucester City, New Jersey.[5][2]
References
^Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, Volume 196, Part 2, p. 221. J. A. Fitzgerald, 1975. Accessed January 20, 2022. "Francis J. Gorman (Dem., Gloucester City) Assemblyman Gorman was born in Gloucester City, Nov. 19, 1924. He was educated at Gloucester Catholic High School, 1942, and La Salle College, Philadelphia, 1949."
^Staff. "County Voters Shun Primary - Heavily", Asbury Park Press, June 6, 1979. Accessed January 20, 2022. "Elsewhere in the state, candidates running on a ticket fielded by Florio won the Democratic nominations in two Camden County Assembly districts over an opposing ticket backed by Errichetti.... Four-term Assemblymen Kenneth Gewertz and Francis Gorman were upset by Florio's team of Daniel Dalton and Dennis Riley in the fourth district, which takes in parts of Gloucester and Burlington counties as well as part of Camden."