TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy might have won the war last week on Election, but his party lost the war. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the loss of seats by Democrats in the state senate and assembly is proof that New Jerseyans have rejected his ‘crazy liberal policies’.
“Look, I think what happened was Phil Murphy was running for president. I mean, there’s no other explanation guy for him to have Bernie Sanders into New Jersey in a general election two days before the general. That’s not to persuade undecideds in New Jersey that if Bernie Sanders persuades you, you were voting for Phil Murphy a long time ago,” Christie said in a Fox News interview.
After trailing his opponent Jack Ciattarelli on election night, Murphy gained a 2 point lead as ballot counting continued throughout the week, defeating Ciattarelli.
New Jersey Democrats had losses though, including the seat of the most powerful Democrat in New Jersey, Steve Sweeney, losing his election to Ed Durr, a Republican with little money and little party support. Durr said he spent under $10,000 to defeat Sweeney whose campaign raised nearly $10,000,000.
“Well, look, I think that they’re going to wind up probably losing three seats in the Senate, which will bring it down to 22 to 18. And like you said, I think they lose eight seats in the assembly, which brings it down to forty-four to thirty-six,” Christie said. “So that means that the Democrats will only have a two-seat margin in the Senate and a four-seat margin in the Assembly. And what that will mean, most particularly because remember, New Jersey still needs to redraw its legislative districts and we have the entire Legislature back up for election in two years, everybody. So Phil Murphy’s crazy liberal policies after the way they got rejected by the voters yesterday? They are. I don’t think there can be Democrats in the Legislature want to hear from him about any of these crazy Bernie Sanders type ideas.”