New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy greets supporters as he campaigns with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S., October 28, 2021.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy received his bid for reelection after an unexpectedly tight contest with Republican Jack Ciattarelli, in keeping with an NBC Information projection.
The decision got here after the vote rely dragged past Election Day.
Murphy, a Democrat, had been main Ciattarelli, a businessman, in public polls going into Election Day.
However Murphy’s lead had markedly shrunk since Might, when the 64-year-old former Goldman Sachs govt was polling 26 proportion factors greater than Ciattarelli.
No incumbent Democratic governor within the Backyard State had received reelection since Brendan Byrne did so in 1977.
Ciattarelli had hammered away in latest weeks at Murphy for elevating taxes throughout his tenure, operating advertisements that featured Murphy saying in 2019, “If you’re a one-issue voter and tax rate is your issue, we’re probably not your state.”
New Jersey was one in all two states with gubernatorial elections this yr. In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe, who had beforehand served a time period in that state’s governor’s workplace.
Each states’ races have been being carefully watched to see if their outcomes mirror the political fortunes of President Joe Biden — a Democrat who recently has seen his public approval ratings fall — and to see in the event that they foretell the destiny of Democrats subsequent yr as they attempt to preserve management of each chambers of Congress.
Democrats in New Jersey maintain a bonus of 1 million registered voters over Republicans, and the state has been received by each Democratic presidential nominee up to now three a long time.
However the state additionally has a powerful contrarian streak, having elected as governor the candidate of the party opposite that of the party holding the White House in every race since 1985.
Murphy was conscious about that.
“Our staff reveals up, we win. Our staff does not present up, and it is a coin toss. We can not afford a coin toss,” the Democrat said at a voter rally Monday night in South Orange.
Earlier than then, Murphy’s reelection bid had gotten assist by visits to the state by a variety of main nationwide Democrats, amongst them Biden, former President Barack Obama, first girl Jill Biden, and Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ciattarelli, 59, beforehand served as a member of the New Jersey Common Meeting, representing the sixteenth district from 2011 to 2018. He unsuccessfully sought the 2017 Republican nomination for governor, shedding to Kim Guadagno, whom Murphy soundly defeated.
Ciattarelli, who’s a licensed public accountant, based a medical publishing firm.
