As of early Wednesday, the 2021 gubernatorial race in New Jersey remains too close to call. Votes in the race against incumbent Democrat governor Phil Murphy and Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli are still being counted.
Out of over 2.3 million ballots cast in the Garden State, Murphy and Ciattarelli have just 1,200 votes between them, the Associated Press reports.
Ciattarelli, a businessman who served in New Jersey’s General Assembly from 2011 to 2018, told a crowd of supporters at an election party in Bridgewater last night that he could not declare victory yet because votes were still being counted.
“We’ve sent a message to the entire nation. This is what I love about this state: Every single time it’s gone too far off track, the people of this state have pushed, pulled and prodded it right back to where it needs to be,” he said.
Meanwhile, at Murphy’s election night party in Asbury Park’s convention hall, the incumbent governor remained hopeful for a second-term victory.
“When every vote is counted, and every vote will be counted, we hope to have a celebration,” he said.
In the final days of the race, Murphy was leading in the polls. According to the AP, Murphy also had several advantages over Ciattarelli in the race, with a 1 million-voter registration advantage and more money in his campaign coffers.
If Murphy wins, he will be the first Democratic governor since Brendan Byrne in 1997 to win reelection. Since 1985, the party opposite to the sitting president has historically won the New Jersey governorship.
In New Jersey, there is no automatic recount law, but it can be requested by both candidates if necessary. Whichever party requests a recount must file a suit in State Superior Court in the counties where they want the tallies to be contested. The process would have to be conducted within the first 17 days after Election Day.
The pending results follow after Republican Greg Youngkin won Virginia’s gubernatorial race against Democrat Terry McAuliffe, delivering a major blow to the Democratic Party ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
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Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Yana Paskova/Stringer, Getty Images/Spencer Platt/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
