New Jersey Governor’s Race a Nail-Biter as Roughly 15,000 Votes Separate the Competitors

The New Jersey governor’s race has emerged as an unexpected nail-biter, as roughly 15,000 votes separated the incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy (D) from his Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli as of Wednesday afternoon.

Murphy went into Election Day with a solid advantage in polls, leading his Republican challenger by an average of 7.8 points, per RealClearPolitics. However, after the polls closed and the results flooded in Tuesday night, all eyes turned to the Garden State as Ciattarelli took the lead, outperforming expectations.

Murphy took the lead back overnight, but the race has yet to be called as roughly 15,000 votes separate the two candidates.

As of Wednesday afternoon, with 89 percent of the vote in, Murphy led Ciattarelli by less than a single percentage point — 49.9 percent to 49.3 percent.

“Last night was a historic one for New Jersey Republicans, who picked up at least a half dozen Assembly seats, several Senate seats, along with county and local seats up and down the state,” Stami Williams, campaign spokeswoman for the Republican, said. 

“Jack is proud to lead our ticket and our party’s resurgence,” she continued, adding that the team is now “focused on making sure all the legal ones are counted and our citizens can have confidence in the system”:

“If you like high property taxes and New Jersey being the worst place in the country to do business, if you like waiting five hours in line at motor vehicles, to get your unemployment check, or go to state government, vote for Phil Murphy,” Ciattarelli said at a campaign event, adding that voters should support him if they truly seek change.

The unexpectedly tight race follows the release of a Project Veritas video, showing the governor’s campaign staffers suggesting that Murphy placed vaccine mandates on the back burner, waiting to introduce them until after the election.  However, his office denied plans for a blanket coronavirus vaccine mandate.