Voting begins to elect New Jersey governor 2:51
(CNN) -
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is locked in a tighter-than-expected race that remains too close to declare a victory and be the first Democratic governor in more than four decades to win reelection in the called
Garden State.
Like Virginia, where Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin won Tuesday night, New Jersey has had a reliable blue trend in federal and local races, but has a track record of votes won by the party outside the House. Blanca in her elections for governor in years in which the elections do not coincide with the federal races.
In addition to his loss in Virginia, the close race at
Garden State
, where President Joe Biden also won by double digits in 2020, is a red flag for Democrats seeking to maintain their majority in Congress in the next midterm elections. anus.
Republican Youngkin wins Virginia gubernatorial race, CNN projections
With 84% of the vote, Murphy was tied with Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
Murphy's lead over Ciattarelli in several late polls appeared to be in the double digits or close to, which gave Democrats confidence about the outcome and shifted some attention to the eventual sidelines, and what could portend for the midterm elections of the next year.
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Murphy's campaign acknowledges that it has been a more difficult night than they expected, but they contend they will eventually pull him out, believing that pending votes will tip for them, a Murphy adviser said.
Like Youngkin, Ciattarelli, a businessman and former state legislator, kept Trump at arm's length, rather than criticizing Murphy for taxes and what he claimed were the effects of the Democrat's pandemic response on business.
Democrats hope that even a small Murphy victory is an affirmation of the party's commitments to mask-wearing and vaccination orders, which Murphy has championed in a state that has suffered around 28,000 COVID-19 deaths.
The final survey of the race, from the University of Monmouth, showed Murphy with advantages ranging from 8 to 14 points, depending on the different models of who went out to vote.
Those figures represent a modest narrowing of the race, in which taxes, an issue Ciattarelli leads, were listed as the top issue.
8 conclusions of the 2021 elections in the United States
But Murphy's lead on who voters trust the most to handle the pandemic was significantly higher, from 45% to 26%, a gap that has remained mostly constant since the summer.
The Democrat also enjoys a sizable lead on an issue that has shaken Virginia's career - education and schools - ahead of Ciattarelli by 15 points.
Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by more than a million in New Jersey, although voters there have shown a willingness to support moderate Republican candidates such as former two-term governors Christie Todd Whitman and, before the Murphy's choice, in 2017, Chris Christie.
As in Virginia, New Jersey Democrats and the Murphy campaign have consistently linked the Republican nominee to Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in New Jersey.
The complicating factor, however, is that Biden's approval in the state has plunged in recent months.
(It was 6 points underwater in the Monmouth survey.)
Ciattarelli has played down the conspiracy theories promoted by Trump about voter fraud, at least as far as his own perspectives are concerned.
"Don't let anyone stay home because they think we can't win or because it's rigged," Ciattarelli said at a campaign event last week.
"It's not rigged here in New Jersey. We can win this race."
Ciattarelli did not name Trump, but the comment underscored the headwinds created by the former president's lies about the 2020 election and the awkward dance that more traditional Republican candidates attempt as they try to keep Trump fans on board and bring them to the polls, without alienating swing suburban voters turned off by Trump's behavior and rhetoric.
In their second debate, in mid-October, a moderator pressed Ciattarelli on his vision of Trump and whether he would accept the support and campaign of the former president alongside him.
The Republican candidate, who has criticized Trump but backed him last year, suggested he had no plans to call the former president, who has not turned up on the road in New Jersey despite having a home there.
"I go out and campaign on my own," Ciattarelli responded.
"I am going to win my own election."
Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and ambassador to Germany who previously served as finance chair for the Democratic National Committee, has taken the opposite tack, stumbling upon a who's who of the national Democratic heavyweights.
Biden, former President Barack Obama and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who joined for governor at Rutgers University, have headlined events for him.
Obama, speaking in Newark last month, focused on Ciattarelli for previously speaking at a "Stop the Steal" rally, then claimed he was not aware of the focus of the event.
"Apparently Phil's opponent says, well, he didn't know it was a rally to overturn the results of the last election. Come on, bro! Said Obama." When you're standing in front of a sign that says' Stop the robbery 'and there's a guy in the crowd waving a Confederate flag, you know this isn't a neighborhood barbecue. "
Ciattarelli's camp, in response, has pointed to his past statements claiming that Biden won the election, a comment that was attacked by other Republicans during the gubernatorial primaries.
In a pair of debates, Murphy also criticized Ciattarelli for Republican opposition to the mask-wearing and vaccination orders, arguing that the measures have been crucial to combat the rise of the delta variant that devastated several states led by the Republican Party.
"For people to ignore that, ignore the [covid response] manual, it is putting lives unnecessarily at risk," Murphy said during their second meeting.
Ciattarelli's insistence that decisions about masks and vaccines should be a matter of personal choice, he added, "feels like an answer that would be seen in a debate in Texas or Florida."
Murphy has also tried to highlight concerns about the fate of abortion rights, which are under siege in GOP-led states and could take a devastating blow in the Supreme Court, where the constitutional right to abortion could soon face a challenge. existential proof.
Both candidates support abortion rights, a political position that puts Ciattarelli at odds with the national Republican Party.
But he opposes a state bill, called the Reproductive Freedom Act, which would codify the Roe v.
Wade and would expand access by allowing more providers to perform the procedure.
Passing the bill, Murphy said in debate, will be his "number one item on the agenda" when New Jersey lawmakers meet for their next session later this year.
MJ Lee contributed to this report.
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