Phil Murphy, a Democrat who has pushed New Jersey in a more progressive direction and overseen the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, was declared the winner of a second term as the Garden State’s governor Wednesday night, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli by a razor-thin margin in a bitter race that was too close to call for nearly 24 hours.
The Associated Press called the race early Wednesday evening.
Ciattarelli, a former member of the state Assembly, has not conceded. His campaign argued all votes have not been counted and could still contest the result.
Unless the outcome changes, Murphy becomes the first Democrat in 44 years to be re-elected New Jersey governor. Brendan Byrne last did it, in 1977.
The race ended up much closer than polls that predicted a high-single-digit victory for Murphy, a 64-year-old former Wall Street executive and American diplomat.
As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, Murphy’s margin over Ciattarelli was less than a percentage point — 50% to 49.2%. It’s a difference of 19,440 votes out of 2.4 million cast, which, if it holds up, would make it one of the closest governor’s races in New Jersey history.
Murphy celebrated at a late-night victory party in Asbury Park, where about 24 hours earlier he had told a dejected crowd “they’d have to wait a little longer” for “every vote to be counted.”
The Ciattarelli campaign criticized the call by the AP.
“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,” Ciattarelli spokeswoman Stami Williams said in a statement.
Mail-in and provisional ballots are still being counted, and Ciattarelli could petition the state courts for a recount. New Jersey does not have automatic recounts.
If Ciattarelli does have a path to victory, it’s very narrow. Many votes still being counted are from Democratic-leaning areas.
N.J. ELECTION 2021: Local and state results
Despite the slim margin, Murphy did not shy away from touting his progressive credentials in his victory speech Wednesday night. He also suggested he would listen to all residents.
“If you want to know what the future looks like, come to New Jersey,” Murphy told a crowd of more than 200 supporters at the Grand Arcade in Asbury Park. “If you want to understand where America is heading, look to New Jersey. And, if you want to be governor for all of New Jersey, you must listen to all of New Jersey. And New Jersey, I hear you.”
“So tonight, I renew my promise to you — whether you voted for me or not — to work every single day of the next four years to keep moving us forward,” he added. “Forward with renewed optimism to ensure greater opportunities for all 9.3 million who call this great state home.”
Murphy’s victory was one of the lone bright spots for Democrats just one year after the state turned out in droves to send President Joe Biden to the White House. Several Democrats who were favored to win re-election in legislative races were on the verge of being unseated. The most stunning development: Long-time Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, appears en route to losing his seat.
State Senate Republicans released a joint statement Wednesday saying voters “sent a clear message that they are tired of having their concerns dismissed by Democrat leaders who think they know better.”
“It should be clear that whatever mandate Democrats thought they had to govern from the far left no longer exists,” they added.
MORE: What the hell just happened in New Jersey? How the 2021 election redefined crazy.
The election was also notable for the number of New Jersey residents who voted early and by mail. Counting those ballots and reporting totals led to confusion Tuesday night and early Wednesday as Ciattarelli seemed poised for a shocking victory.
Ciattarelli led Murphy in early returns deep into election night, rolling up big support in suburban and traditionally Republican parts of the state, while turnout in urban areas was light for Murphy compared to four years ago. Both campaigns left their election night parties without declaring victory or conceding defeat, as Ciattarelli led Murphy by about 1 percentage point overnight.
But Murphy — the state’s 56th governor — pulled ahead Wednesday as more votes were tabulated from Democratic-leaning areas.
In the end, Murphy cracked the 1.2 million vote mark Wednesday evening, meaning he registered slightly more votes than he did in 2017, when he beat Republican Kim Guadagno, Chris Christie’s former lieutenant governor, by a margin of 56%-42%.
Ciattarelli’s 1.19 million votes are about 200,000 more than Guadagno’s final total. The challenger, whose sharp TV and radio advertisements painted Murphy as an out-of-touch, spend-happy outsider, rode strong performances in Republican strongholds such as Monmouth and Ocean counties, and clawed into the governor’s margins in suburban counties.
An analysis of preliminary vote totals shows Murphy did worse in 11 of the state’s 21 counties than he did four years ago.
Despite Murphy’s win, the tense election could be seen as part of a wakeup call for national Democrats heading into next year’s midterm elections, in which the party will aim to keep control of Congress two years into Biden’s first term.
New Jersey was one of only two states to hold a gubernatorial election this year. The other was Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democratic former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
This all comes four years after Murphy easily won a first term, by 14 percentage points, succeeding Christie, a term-limited Republican. Democrats have turned the state even bluer in recent years, thanks in part to suburban backlash against Christie and Republican former President Donald Trump. Heading into Tuesday, there were more than 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans in New Jersey.
Murphy, a Middletown resident, installed more progressive policies in New Jersey, including signing laws raising the minimum wage, enacting equal pay and paid family leave, strengthening gun control, restoring funding for women’s health clinics, and increasing taxes on millionaires and corporations. He openly suggested he wanted to remold the state as the “California of the East Coast.”
The governor also saw his popularity soar in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged the state early. Murphy installed some of the most stringent lockdown, mask, and vaccine orders in the country to fight the crisis that has now killed more than 28,000 residents.
But Ciattarelli, also a former Somerset County freeholder and owner of a medical publishing company, argued that Murphy had “broken” New Jersey with high taxes and a more liberal bent. He vowed to lower property taxes by revamping the state’s school funding formula.
He also dismissed Murphy, a Massachusetts native who has lived in the Garden State for more than 20 years, as being “not New Jersey.”
Ciattarelli and other Republicans criticized Murphy’s coronavirus measures for being draconian and blamed him for the deaths of more than 8,000 people in the state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
As a national debate raged over masks and vaccine mandates — especially in schools — Murphy lifted statewide face-covering rules in May but is still requiring New Jersey students to wear them in schools. So far, children under 12 have not been eligible for the vaccine. Murphy has also ordered state workers, teachers, health care employees, and more to get the COVID-19 vaccine or face regular testing.
Ciattarelli has opposed mask and vaccine mandates, saying it should be up to people — and parents — to choose how they protect themselves. He has, however, supported giving workers a testing option if they decline the vaccine.
Murphy, in turn, tried to link Ciattarelli to Trump, who remains popular with the Republican base but is widely unpopular in New Jersey. The governor warned the ex-lawmaker would bring the state “backwards.”
The race originally showed Murphy with a hefty double-digit lead over Ciattarelli, who battled low name recognition. But Murphy’s lead had shrunk to single digits in recent weeks. Ciattarelli had never led in a single public-opinion poll.
MORE: Why the pollsters were so wrong about the N.J. governor’s race
Still, Ciattarelli saw strong showings in counties Republicans must win to have a chance in a statewide election — trouncing the governor, for example, in Ocean and Monmouth counties.
Ciattarelli also won three counties that had voted for Murphy in 2017: Atlantic, Cumberland, and Gloucester.
Murphy has not laid out detailed plans for a second term, though he has said one main goal is to further tighten New Jersey’s already strict gun laws.
NJ Advance Media staff writers Susan K. Livio, Len Melisurgo, and Ted Sherman contributed to this report.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @johnsb01.
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
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Murphy wins bruising N.J. governor’s race, narrowly beating Ciattarelli for 2nd term - NJ.com
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