New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's re-election was a historical rarity, but the narrow margin was not

Phil Murphy
(Image credit: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appears to have won re-election to a second term on Tuesday, though the race was so close The Associated Press and other new organizations did not call it until about 24 hours after the polls closed. Murphy was trailing Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli until Wednesday morning, when returns from historically Democratic parts of New Jersey finally came in.

It isn't clear how large Murphy's eventual margin of victory will be — he leads by 1.2 percentage points with 98 percent of precincts reporting and 90 percent of the estimated vote counted, AP reports — but the unexpectedly narrow results rattled Democrats already reeling from Democrat Terry McAuliffe's loss in Virginia.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.