Phil Murphy Win Does Not Mitigate 2022 Midterm Concerns For Democrats

Incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy won reelection on Wednesday in New Jersey, doing little to ease concerns Democrats have for the 2022 midterms after Terry McAuliffe’s embarrassing defeat in Virginia.

Murphy became the first Democratic governor of New Jersey to be reelected since Brendan Byrne in 1977, narrowly edging Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli by just over 40,000 votes, after Biden’s 16-point victory in the Garden State just one year ago.

Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., voiced his concerns after Murphy’s narrow win saying it should be “an alarm clock rousing us from sleep,” noting his party’s lack of legislative accomplishments nearly 10 months into President Joe Biden’s administration.

“If we don’t deliver, we don’t deserve to govern,” Pascrell told the Washington Post.

Murphy was among the last governors to repeal mask mandates and the first to require vaccines for teachers. Ciattarelli ran heavily opposed to Covid-related restrictions including vaccine and mask mandates and argued the lockdowns hurt small businesses and children’s education.

One of the more staggering demographic changes from the election was when Murphy lost Gloucester, Atlantic and Cumberland counties by an average of 11 points, when he previously won all 3 in his 2017 campaign by an average of 13 points. All three of those counties are made up of white working-class voters who are shifting Republican. Ciattarelli also made respectable gains in the suburbs, where he lost Bergen County by only 4 points, after Murphy won it by 15 points in 2017. Murphy’s margin of victory in Burlington County, a Philadelphia suburb, also fell by 10 points.

“Last night was a historic one for New Jersey Republicans, who picked up at least a half dozen Assembly seats, several Senate seats, along with county and local seats up and down the state,” Ciattarelli spokeswoman Stami Williams said.

Republican truck driver Edward Durr Jr. defeated state Senate President Steve Sweeny after only raising $10,000 for his campaign and spending only $150 in the most surprising race of the night. Durr ran against the Covid-restrictions put in place by the state “without one word out of the Senate president or the Speaker,” adding they “forfeited any right to reelection.”

Former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli said that Democrats have grown dissatisfied with Biden’s performance and urged Congress to focus on the needs of average Americans.