The first New Jersey gubernatorial debate between incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) and Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli, pictured, is being held at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ on September 28, 2021. Republican Ciattarelli appears on stage alone for for a photo opportunity prior to the debate.
Syndication: The Record
NEW JERSEY (77WABC) – Despite the Associated Press projecting Democrat incumbent Phil Murphy as the winner in the race for governor of New Jersey, Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli’s spokesperson said the race is still simply too close to call.
In a statement to twitter, Ciattarelli’s spokesperson Stami Williams wrote, “With the candidates separated by a fraction of a percent out of 2.4M 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.”
Speaking on NJ PBS, Ciattarelli campaign manager Eric Arpert called Murphy’s victory speech “premature” because “these numbers are fluctuating.” “Count all the votes, then we’ll know who won,” he said.
Murphy, 64, would be the first Democratic governor in four decades to win re-election in New Jersey, even though registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million in the densely populated northeastern coastal U.S. state.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also delivered a victory speech in the Grand Arcade at the Pavilion in Asbury Park on Wednesday night.
Adding to the election result confusion was a lack of clarity from 21 county elections officials over how many of more than 700,000 mail-in and early voting ballots were being included in the totals.
According to the New York Post, there are also vote-counting debacles plaguing several counties — including in a key area where dozens of machines were shut down before ballots were counted.
The Post wrote, “A mistake by a poll worker led machines in 56 voting districts in Essex County, the state’s second-most populated region, to be turned off before their ballots were tallied, local election officials said.”
Unofficial returns posted by the Associated Press and cited by the New York Times and other media outlets pronouncing the victory for Murphy showed him clinching 50.03% of the vote, compared with 49.22% for Ciattarelli, with 90% of ballots counted.
As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, with 89 percent of the expected vote counted, Murphy was holding on to 50 percent of the vote. Ciattarelli, a former General Assembly member, had 49.3 percent of the vote.
The two men were separated by fewer than 17,000 votes out of nearly 2.4 million cast.
According to NJ.com, thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots had yet to be counted Wednesday afternoon. The outlet added that some counties had not yet reported figures from the heavily Democratic early vote.
However, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie predicted Wednesday morning that the race would go to a recount.
“There’s a very legitimate chance Jack could win this,” Christie told TownHall.
New Jersey law does not provide for an automatic recount, but any candidate can request a recount within 17 days after an election by applying to a judge of the Superior Court that oversees the district or districts involved in the recount.
https://twitter.com/StamiLW/status/1456030420974383114
