New Jersey governor’s race: Garden State awaits results
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY — New Jersey voters had their say Tuesday on whether Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy will win a second term after enacting much of his progressive agenda or if they will chart a new direction with Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli.
Polls have closed in New Jersey in one of just two statewide contests for governor in the country. Before polls opened Tuesday, already some 700,000 votes — about a third of the total in 2017 — had been cast by mail-in ballots or in early in-person voting.
Murphy has been leading in the polls, has a 1 million-voter registration advantage and had more cash in his campaign coffers than Ciattarelli in the final days of the race. But the Republican has far surpassed his predecessor four years ago in fundraising and has seen the gap in public polls move in his favor — if only by a few points.
At the Washington Township Senior Center, Joseph Buono wore his red Make America Great Again hat to vote. He voted for Ciattarelli for governor largely because of his promise to address property taxes in a state where the average bill is more than $9,000 — and because he doesn’t want incumbent Murphy to remain in charge of the state’s pandemic response.
“The fear is he’s going to mandate everything if he does win,” said Buono, a 31-year-old accountant. His wife, Nadia Buono, 37, who works in finance, said she doesn’t want their two young children to be required to be vaccinated when they turn five.
Washington Township is the biggest town in Gloucester County, home to middle-class suburbs of Philadelphia. The county, generally more conservative than the state, has been a bellwether, voting for the winner in the last five gubernatorial elections.
Outside the bustling senior center, home to voting for several precincts, Murphy voters said they approve of the governor’s handling of the pandemic.
“I think he did an excellent job with COVID,” said Julie Steinman, 60, a second-grade teacher in a nearby community. Steinman said she’s an unaffiliated voter but usually supports Democrats running for governor, largely because they’re friendlier to teachers and their unions.
In Franklin Township in Ciattarelli’s home county of Somerset, some Murphy voters were focused more on the national political scene than his stewardship of the state.
“This is an election where there is no way in hell where I would vote for a Republican. I’m so frustrated with the division in this country,” said Elizabeth
Ranney, 89, of the Kingston section of Franklin Township. “It just breaks my heart.”
Somerset County is a battleground, which Democrats won in 2017 after Republicans had held it for decades.
A lawsuit that was filed Tuesday evening by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, based on social media posts and local news reports, alleged that dozens of voters were turned away from polls. The suit, which had sought to extend voting until 9:30 p.m., was denied by the court, the civil rights organization said.
A message seeking comment was left with the secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections in the state.
While a Ciattarelli win would send a jolt of surprise through state and national politics, a win by Murphy would also break some historical trends.
No Democrat has won reelection as governor in New Jersey since Brendan Byrne in 1977, and the party opposite the president’s has won the New Jersey governorship going back to 1985.
Murphy has campaigned as a solid progressive, with a record to show for it. He signed bills into law that expanded voting access, provided for taxpayer-funded pre-K and community college, hiked the minimum wage to $15 an hour over time along with opening up the state to renewable energy like wind power.