TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy never expected Tuesday’s election to be easy, but he also never expected that he wouldn’t be giving his victory speech at the Asbury Park Boardwalk’s Convention Hall. Instead, Murphy and his opponent ended the night knowing this is anyone’s race right now.

New Jersey voters overwhelmingly voted against Phil Murphy’s overreaching referendum on Tuesday in what was predicted to be a double-digit loss for his Republican opponent. After all, New Jersey is a predominantly blue state that hasn’t had a big Republican win since Christ Christie’s re-election win in 2013.

Since then, the well has run dry for New Jersey Republicans during state and federal elections.

Enter Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy. With no disrespect to Jack Ciattarelli, Phil Murphy has essentially turned New Jersey into a red state, whether he wins or loses his election to Ciattarelli.

Murphy’s Democrats have seen losses statewide due to the double punch of his epic fumbling of the COVID-19 pandemic, education, sanctuary cities, police reform, and of course, Joe Biden.

Closing Tuesday night trailing Ciattarelli by 30,000 votes, the voters of New Jersey have sent a clear message to Murphy.

We’re done.

We’re done with the mandates. We’re done with the radicalization of education. We’re done with the anti-police sentiment. We’re done with letting criminals out of jail early. We’re done with bail reform. We’re done with out-of-control violence. We’re done listening to Democrats tell us why we’re all wrong and they’re all right.

We’re done with the government telling us where we can go and with who we can go there with. We’re tired of Murphy shutting down our businesses. We’re tired of losing a state we all love and we’re tired of working on our exit strategy our of New Jersey. We’re tired of being told we can’t see our families or invite our friends over for the holidays.

We’re tired of seeing our friends lose their jobs simply because they don’t believe in the things Democrats believe in.

While Jack Ciattarelli hasn’t been the reassuring rock that Virginia’s new Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin has been today, one thing is certain. Jack Ciattarelli is not Phil Murphy. He made that abundantly clear on the campaign trail, but he was never really clear about anything else.

There are still a lot of votes left to be counted in New Jersey and we may not be able to declare a winner for a few days, depending upon how many mail-in ballots arrive from late senders, but there’s one thing we do know.

We’re done, and as Dee Synder and Twisted Sister once said, “We’re not gonna take it anymore.”

Phil Murphy is now officially on notice, win or lose.

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Phil Stilton is the Editor and Publisher of Shore News Network, an independent digital newsroom providing original reporting on New Jersey, national news, government, public policy, public safety, courts, and community affairs.

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