New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy barely pulled off a win Wednesday after an extremely close race with Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli.
The Associated Press called the race just before 6:30 pm Wednesday, nearly a day after the polls closed.
While Murphy held on for a second term, the closeness of the result may be a bigger shock for both him, and the Democratic Party nationally, than even Republican Glenn Youngkin’s come-from-behind win in the Virginia race for governor.
The two states’ results were particularly alarming to Democrats because of where they happened. Biden carried Virginia by 10 points last year. He took New Jersey by more than 15. Given the scale of those victories, neither state was seen as especially competitive when this year’s campaigns began.
But the first major elections of Biden’s presidency showed growing discontent among voters. They also underscored that, with former President Donald Trump out of office, Democrats can no longer center their messages on opposition to him.
The results ultimately pointed to a potentially painful year ahead for Democrats as they try to maintain thin majorities in Congress.
And they put a new focus on congressional Democrats’ inability so far to pass Biden’s massive domestic policy legislation, though it’s unclear whether the defeat will be enough to jolt his party into action.
Murphy’s victory came after an intense back and forth over that lasted into Wednesday morning between the two candidates as both leapfrogged each other multiple times. At one point, Ciattarelli held the lead by less than 500 votes.
On Tuesday night, both candidates held off on declaring victory, saying they would wait until “every vote” was counted.
Murphy was declared the winner Wednesday night with 50.02 percent (1,210,997 votes) to Ciattarelli’s 49.23 percent (1,191,703 votes).
This is an excerpt from the New York Post.
