That’s the ballgame, folks.
Save Jersey confirmed early Thursday evening that Jack Ciattarelli will concede the 2021 gubernatorial race to Phil Murphy on Friday.
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As of Thursday, Governor Phil Murphy’s statewide lead of over 70,000 votes (shy of 3%) outstripped the number of provisional votes which the Republican camp believed were still outstanding. The challenger had hoped to mount a recount if the provisional ballots were numerous – and favorable – enough to close Murphy’s current margin.
Ciattarelli, a small businessman and former Assemblyman from Somerset County, was projected to lose by anywhere from 8-to-11+ points by public polls that ended up being wildly off-base and likely hampered Ciattarelli’s efforts to secure valuable outside investment in his campaign.
Murphy – who ended up being far less popular than the mainstream media inside and outside of New Jersey assumed – will become the first Democrat governor to win reelection since the 1970s. The incumbent will also begin his second term with a smaller but more liberal Democrat majority in the State Assembly and a growing debate among Democrat powerbrokers as to whether the party’s leftward turn, combined with the Biden-Harris Administration’s sagging popularity, is setting Dems up for a historic electoral disaster in 2022.
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