New Jersey governor's race too close to call

(Image credit: Mark Makela/Getty Images)

published 3 November 2021

The New Jersey governor's race remains too close to call, with both candidates — Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and his Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli — certain they'll be victorious.

As of early Wednesday morning, 82 percent of the expected vote is in, with Ciattarelli, a former member of the New Jersey General Assembly, leading Murphy by 38,710 votes.

Speaking to supporters, Murphy said they will have to "wait a little while longer than we had hoped, we're going to wait for every vote to be counted, and that's how our democracy works." His focus has never been on "trying to do more for those who already have much but to do much for those in the middle and at the bottom, so that they have more opportunity," Murphy stated, adding that he believes in "leading with compassion and empathy, not anger and despair," and follows "science and facts, not the political winds."

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During his election night speech, Ciattarelli said he wanted the "people of New Jersey to listen to what it is that we're gonna do," promising that if he's governor, he will "lower property taxes. We're gonna make this a better place to do business. We're gonna downsize state government. We're gonna support our state and local police. We're gonna get back to basics in teaching critical life skills in our schools, providing vocational training for our students that don't want or need to go to college. And we're gonna leave all that other subject matter to the kitchen table, between mom and dad and their kids, that's where it belongs."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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