After counting about 90% of the vote, Murphy won 50.1% of the vote, while Republican candidate Jack Catarelli won 49.1%. This represents a predominance of around 20,000 votes out of 2.4 million votes cast.
“This is a surprise, because the polls suggested that Governor Murphy was ahead [sāncensim] by eight to 12 percentage points, “said Saladin Ambar, a professor of political science at Ratgers University.
Murphy was first elected governor of New Jersey in 2017 with 56% of the vote. In the US presidential election in 2020, Joe Biden received 58% of the vote in New Jersey and Donald Trump received 40%.
Ambars noted that the last time a Democratic governor was re-elected in New Jersey was in 1997.
“In a state where taxes, and real estate taxes in particular, are such a big problem, it is very difficult for Democrats to succeed in successive governoral elections,” Ambars said.
He acknowledged that Murphy had been harmed by Biden’s unpopularity and the president’s failed attempts to get his social spending and infrastructure plans passed by the US Congress, where he was hampered by internal disagreements with the Democratic Party.
Murphy’s victory is a small consolation to Biden after the Virginia state governor’s election, which was won on Tuesday by Republican candidate Glen Yangkin, who has not held political office so far.
Yangkin’s victory over former governor Democrat Terry Macoliff, who once enjoyed great popularity, is a disaster suffered by Biden before the mid-term congressional elections next year.
