New Jersey Democrat Governor Murphy will ‘wait for every vote to be counted’ in close election race against Republican Ciattarelli

Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has vowed to wait “for every vote to be counted” in a tight election race against his Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli, as the two candidates remain virtually deadlocked.

With 98% of the expected vote tallied from Tuesday’s election, the Associated Press showed that Ciattarelli and Murphy were separated by some 1,200 votes, out of more than 2.3 million ballots cast.

Pre-election polls had indicated Murphy held a comfortable lead over his opposition, with a Monmouth University poll released last week showing that the 64-year-old Democrat had an 11-point lead. Ciattarelli, however, has managed to close that gap.

Commenting on the nail-bitingly close race, Murphy said he would not be celebrating or declaring victory. Instead, the Democrat said that “we’re going to wait for every vote to be counted,” because “that’s how our democracy works.”

His Republican opponent, however, shared early on Wednesday that he fully expected to make a victory declaration once all votes were tallied up. Ciattarelli told his crowds of supporters that “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.”

Former Republican President Donald Trump and VP Mike Pence congratulated GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin after media projections predicted him to win Virginia’s gubernatorial race. Trump also said that the “MAGA movement is bigger and stronger than ever.”

If Murphy is re-elected, he will be the first Democratic governor of New Jersey to win re-election since 1977. His stint in office, however, has been largely marked by his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic that has seen over 25,000 citizens in the state succumb to the disease.

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