Trailing by about 70,000 votes or 3%, Republican candidate for governor Jack Ciattarelli is the last man standing. After New Jersey Democrat state senator Steve Sweeney conceded earlier on Wednesday, Ciattarelli is the last major candidate to refuse concession of the 2021 election.
Ciattarelli’s camp has been quiet for two days now as ballot counting winds down. Ciattarelli has hinted at a recount, even a challenge to the election results as the New Jersey GOP continues to solicit voters to inform them of possible election fraud at the polls.
Two days ago, the GOP said, “70k provisional ballots (as well as some vote by mail ballots) still need to be counted. This number is GREATER than Murphy’s current lead. Counting every vote is something Democrats used to believe in (until Phil Murphy decided that’s not in his interests).”
Many of those have been counted, which has actually widened Murphy’s lead over Ciattarelli in the days since.
The RNC has reportedly dispatched teams of lawyers to assist Ciattarelli in any possible legal attempts to overturn the 2021 election.
Ciattarelli said he will instead wait for every single ballot in New Jersey to be counted until he concedes defeat to Governor Phil Murphy.
That’s a move Murphy says is “dangerous” to the integrity of the election process in New Jersey.
“It’s matematically impossible,” Murphy said of Jack’s chances to bridge the 70,000 vote balance on Wednesday when there were only 70,000 votes left to be counted two days ago.
At this point, barring any claims of election fraud or errors, Phil Murphy has won the election. Ciattarelli can still demand a recount. That process could cost his campaign an additional $1,000,000 including county clerk fees, legal fees and wages to election oversight personnel.
In the event that Ciattarelli successfully overturns the election, he would be reimbursed the cost by government agencies. If not, he will be on the hook for the entire bill.
Ciattarelli’s loss would be the fourth major GOP defeat at the state and federal level since 2017, including losses by Phil Hugin, Kim Guadagno and a 2020 U.S. Senate race against Cory Booker.