Phil Murphy’s lead grows as Jack Ciattarelli promises to dig in for the long haul

Phil Stilton

Ballots in New Jersey’s 2021 gubernatorial election continue to be counted, but few are left, and at this point, there’s no path for Jack Ciattarelli to catch up to his opponent Phil Murphy. Ciattarelli is the GOP candidate that maintained a razor-thin lead over his Democrat opponent on election night, but as votes continued to be tallied, he lost his lead by morning and on Saturday, four days after polls closed, Murphy leads the race by nearly 3 points.

As of Saturday morning, Murphy has 1,284,640 votes to Ciattarelli’s 1,219,398, a difference of 65,242 votes, and more votes are left to be counted in Democrat leaning counties such as Mercer, Burlington, and Camden.

On Thursday, Ciattarelli vowed not to concede until every ‘legal’ vote was counted, hinting at a possible challenge and recount once all ballots have been received and counted statewide.

Ciattarelli, a denier of former President Donald J. Trump’s “Stop the Steal” agenda is now preparing to challenge New Jersey’s election process if necessary. He will be backed by reports of teams of lawyers sent to New Jersey by the Republican National Committee.


“Nobody should be declaring victory or conceding until every legal vote is counted,” Ciattarelli said, hinting that he may call for a recount or audit after the process is complete. “My team is comprised of the best legal and political experts in the country. I promise you whatever the outcome, the election result will be legal and fair.”

Now, calls for an electric audit are being lodged by his base as his social media pages are filled with requests from his followers to challenge the election. Many urge their candidate to fight, claiming Democrats are cheating the election process in New Jersey.

During his campaign, Ciattarelli said the 2020 election of Joe Biden was legal and fair. He said he didn’t believe there was any voter fraud and that former President Trump never presented evidence in a court that led to any judges taking his case.

“Joe Biden is our President,” Ciattarelli said.

“Joe Biden won the presidency,” Ciattarelli said. “Trump campaign and the Trump team filed 62 lawsuits around this country regarding voter fraud and voter irregularity, two of those cases made their way to the Supreme Court which has a majority of Trump appointments [Fact Check: This claim is false. Trump appointed just 3 members to the 9 member Supreme Court] and both of those decisions went against the Trump team. Joe Biden is our President.”

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