Governor Phil Murphy Barely Gets Re-Elected in New Jersey

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Democratic Governor Phil Murphy has finally been projected to win reelection in New Jersey after nearly losing to Republican Jack Ciattarelli. In what turned out to be a shockingly dismal night for the Democratic Party, voters made it clear in various regions across the country on November 2nd that Republicans had momentum heading into the midterm elections. 

With a major win in Virginia and nearly knocking off Phil Murphy from New Jersey, it’s clear that there are major headwinds ahead for the Democratic Party. Even still, Murphy managed to break a curse that has intimidated democratic candidates in New Jersey.

Murphy becomes the first Democratic Governor within New Jersey to win reelection successfully in more than 40 years. At the time of writing, it appears that Murphy could win by only a few percentage points and he was actually behind his opponent, Jack Ciattarelli for much of the evening on November 2nd.

Barely hanging on to victory in New Jersey is not something that the Democratic Party should celebrate if they want to have any chance of holding onto their congressional majorities in the 2022 midterm elections. 

Suburbs appeared to be slipping away from Democrats in several regions across New Jersey. The same indications were clear in Virginia’s 2021 Gubernatorial Election as well. If Republicans are able to utilize the same playbook from this off-year election, then next year will certainly be interesting. 

At the end of the day, a win is a win and the same outcome occurs regardless of the margin of victory. Phil Murphy will go on to serve his second term as the 56th Governor of New Jersey and his new term will officially start in January of 2022.