Murphy wins easily in n.J.
AFTER EIGHT years of GOP rule under the increasingly unpopular Chris Christie, New Jersey’s governor’s office is back in the blue.
Democrat Phil Murphy defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, with 56% of the vote to her 42% with 91% of ballots counted.
“Tonight we declare the days of division are over,” Murphy told supporters Tuesday at Convention Hall in Asbury Park. “We will move forward together. This is exactly who we are in New Jersey: We have each backs.”
The race was called for Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and ambassador to Germany who led Guadagno in fund-raising and the polls, moments after polls other’s closed at 8 p.m. The country’s only two gubernatorial races — in Virginia and New Jersey — were seen as an early measure of voter approval of President Trump .
John Holpp, 88, voted for Murphy (photo inset), 60, and said he would be even happier “if I could get rid of Trump.” Guadagno, 58, a former prosecutor and county sheriff, tried to distance herself from Trump and Christie — an uphill battle since she served alongside the term-limited governor for eight years. In Hoboken, City Councilman Ravi Bhalla emerged the winner of a six-person mayoral race. Bhalla is the first Sikh mayor in the state.