US Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has narrowly won re-election after voting ended in an unexpected nail-biter for the incumbent.
Murphy became the first Democratic governor in four decades to win re-election in the densely populated northeastern coastal US state, even though registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million.
“If you want to be governor of all of New Jersey, you must listen to all of New Jersey. And New Jersey, I hear you,” he told the crowd in a brief victory speech.
Murphy garnered 50.03% of the vote, compared with 49.22% for Ciattarelli, with 90% of ballots counted.
New Jersey’s gubernatorial race suddenly become the country’s most-watched election as a potential bellwether for next year’s congressional midterms.
There was no immediate word from Jack Ciattarelli conceding defeat. His campaign spokesperson, Sami Williams, posted a tweet criticizing the media for calling the race when it did.
“With the candidates separated by a fraction of a percent out of 2.4 million ballots cast, it’s irresponsible of the media to make this call when the New Jersey Secretary of State doesn’t even know how many ballots are left to be counted,” she wrote.
Ciattarelli capitalized on widespread unpopularity with Murphy’s aggressive mask requirements for schoolchildren.
The Republican had also focused much of his campaign on the state’s high taxes, while accusing Murphy, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive, of being out of touch with the electorate.
Ciattarelli’s unexpectedly strong performance in New Jersey and a Republican victory on Tuesday in Virginia’s hard-fought gubernatorial race spelled trouble for Biden’s party heading into next year’s congressional elections.
In reaction to Democrats’ disappointing results in Virginia and narrow race in New Jersey, Biden said on Wednesday that “people are upset and uncertain about a lot of things” and that he will push ahead with his legislative agenda.
Biden told reporters he had spoken to Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat who lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia’s governor race.
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“What I do know is that people want us to get things done,” Biden said when asked how much responsibility he takes for the loss of Democrat McAuliffe.
“And that’s why I’m continuing to push very hard for the Democratic Party to move along and pass my infrastructure bill and my ‘Build Back Better’ bill.”
Biden said his social spending and infrastructure bills “should have passed” before election day but isn’t sure it would have “changed the number of very conservative folks” who turned out in red districts where Donald Trump is popular to vote for Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Biden made multiple campaigns stops in Virginia for McAuliffe and aggressively sought to tie Youngkin to the divisive politics of Trump.
“People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things,” Biden said, “from COVID to school, to jobs, to a whole range of things – and the cost of a gallon of gasoline. And so, if I’m able to pass and sign into law my ‘Build Back Better’ initiative, I’m in a position where you’re going to see a lot of those things ameliorated quickly and swiftly. So that has to be done.”
Asked what Democrats need to do to respond to Republican attacks over critical race theory and other cultural issues, Biden said, “We should produce for the American people.”
Critical race theory is a legal framework that examines how systemic racism continues to permeate US law and society.
