New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy projected to win reelection after surprisingly tight race against Jack Ciattarelli

New Jersey was one of two states with gubernatorial elections this year. In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe, who had previously served a term in that state’s governor’s office.

Both states’ races were being closely watched to see if their outcomes reflect the political fortunes of President Joe Biden — a Democrat who recently has seen his public approval ratings fall — and to see if they foretell the fate of Democrats next year as they try to maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

Democrats in New Jersey hold an advantage of 1 million registered voters over Republicans, and the state has been won by every Democratic presidential nominee in the past three decades.

But the state also has a strong 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 acutely aware of that.

“Our team shows up, we win. Our team doesn’t show up, and it’s a coin toss. We cannot afford a coin toss,” the Democrat said at a voter rally Monday night in South Orange.

Before then, Murphy’s reelection bid had gotten support through visits to the state by a number of leading national Democrats, among them Biden, former President Barack Obama, first lady Jill Biden, and Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ciattarelli, 59, previously served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the 16th district from 2011 to 2018. He unsuccessfully sought the 2017 Republican nomination for governor, losing to Kim Guadagno, whom Murphy soundly defeated.

Ciattarelli, who is a certified public accountant, founded a medical publishing company.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/03/new-jersey-governor-election-phil-murphy-beats-jack-ciattarelli.html