TRENTON, NJ – With a 67,000 vote lead, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has declared himself the winner of the 2021 gubernatorial election, calling upon his opponent Jack Ciattarelli to concede his defeat.
“When it’s mathematically impossible to win, I think it’s dangerous [not to concede]” Murphy said about the election. “I think it’s bigger than winning or losing, it gets to questioning what it is to be an American and respect the institutions that we count on as a society, including democracy.”
On the other hand, Murphy said he would not call on New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney to concede his election to truck driver Ed Durr.
“I think it’s incredible incredibly dangerous when it’s mathematically impossible, our lead right now is meaningfully larger,” Murph said on Monday. “It’s a fact our lead is meaningfully larger than the lead that Glenn Youngkin has in Virginia and that race got conceded and sewed up.”
Murphy also said the New Jersey election was run fairly and any claims to the contrary back Ciattarelli or his followers is false.
“This thing was run fairly. It was run transparently. Every vote will be counted but when it’s mathematically impossible to win, I think it’s dangerous,” Murphy added, doubling down on his past claim. “I think it’s bigger than winning or losing. It sort of gets to question what it is to be an American and respect the institutions that we count on as a society including democracy.”
When asked about the election of Senate President Steve Sweeney who lost to a political unknown, Ed Durr, Murphy said that’s a different story.
Murphy guaranteed that every vote will be counted and suspected that count will continue to go in his favor.
“Senate President Sweeney thinks he does have a mathematical shot and we should let that play out,” Murphy said. “I think on our race, I know the math. I don’t know the math in Steve’s race. There is no shot in our race.”
