New_Jersey_gubernatorial_election,_2021

2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election

2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election

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The 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the governor of New Jersey.

Quick Facts Turnout, Nominee ...

Incumbent governor Phil Murphy was first elected in 2017 with 56% of the vote[2] and won re-election to a second term. Murphy and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, defeated the Republican ticket of Jack Ciattarelli and Diane Allen, 51.2% to 48%.

Murphy formally announced his intention to run for a second term on October 1, 2020.[3] Primaries were held on June 8, 2021. Murphy, who won the Democratic nomination unopposed after his two primary challengers were disqualified, faced Ciattarelli, Green nominee Madelyn Hoffman, Libertarian nominee Gregg Mele, and Socialist Workers Party nominee Joanne Kuniansky in the general election. The race was considered by many media outlets to be a "safe" or "likely" Democratic hold, as Murphy had led a majority of pre-election polls by double digits.[4] However, Murphy defeated Ciattarelli by a much smaller margin than expected.[5]

Murphy is the first Democratic governor of New Jersey to win re-election since Brendan Byrne in 1977, as well as the first candidate of the same party as the incumbent U.S. president to win since Thomas Kean in 1985. This is also the first New Jersey gubernatorial election since 2009 where both the Democratic and Republican nominees received more than one million votes each.[5] It also was the first New Jersey gubernatorial election where the Green Party candidate placed third. Murphy also became the first Democrat to win a New Jersey gubernatorial election without carrying Gloucester and Cumberland Counties since Robert B. Meyner in 1953, and the first Democrat to win a gubernatorial election without carrying Atlantic County since Richard J. Hughes in 1961.

Atlantic County voted for the losing candidate for the first time since 1993. Also, this was the first New Jersey gubernatorial election in which Somerset County voted more Democratic than the state as a whole since 1910. Murphy became the first New Jersey Governor since Brendan Byrne to win both of his elections with a majority of the vote each time. It was the first single-digit Democratic win in a governor's election since 1961.[6][7]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Disqualified

  • Roger Bacon, perennial candidate[8]
  • Lisa McCormick, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018[9]

Declined

Fundraising

More information Primary campaign finance activity through June 28, 2021, Candidate ...

Lieutenant Governor nomination

Nominee

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrew

Declined

Fundraising

More information Primary campaign finance activity through June 28, 2021, Candidate ...

Endorsements

Hirsh Singh
Individuals
  • Joseph Rudy Rullo, businessman, actor, and perennial candidate[21]
Phil Rizzo
State Legislators
Individuals

Lieutenant Governor nomination

Nominee

  • Diane Allen, former state senator from the 7th district (1998–2018) and candidate for US Senate in 2002[35]

Potential candidates not selected

On May 4, 2021, the New Jersey Globe published a list of nine potential candidates for lieutenant governor after speaking with "more than two dozen Republican leaders, strategists and activists."[37] Diane Allen (who was selected as Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli's running mate) was one of the names on this list. The others were:

Debates

More information No., Date ...

A second debate on NJ PBS featuring Ciattarelli and Singh and moderated by NJ Spotlight News reporters Briana Vannozzi, Colleen O'Dea, and David Cruz was planned for May 26, 2021,[39] but later cancelled on May 24, 2021,[40] after Singh announced that he would decline to participate.[41]

Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Results

Results by county:
  Ciattarelli
  •   60–70%
  •   50–60%
  •   40–50%
  •   <40%
More information Party, Candidate ...

General election

Five candidates appeared on the general election ballot, the lowest number of candidates for a New Jersey gubernatorial election since 1953, which also featured five.[42]

Candidates

Withdrew

Fundraising

More information General election campaign finance activity through November 19, 2021, Candidate ...

Debates

Although New Jersey State Law gives until September 1, 2021, for independent gubernatorial candidates to fundraise $490,000 to qualify for the debates, the invitees of the first debate were definitively stated at around July 20, 2021, which was over a month before the deadline.[failed verification][53][54] Despite the third-party candidates being ineligible to debate in any debates that were sponsored by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, the New Jersey Globe held another debate for third-party lieutenant governor candidates on October 11, 2021.[55]

More information No., Date ...
More information No., Date ...

Predictions

More information Source, Ranking ...

Endorsements

Phil Murphy (D)
Executive branch officials
U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives
State legislators
County executives
Local officials
Individuals
Organizations
Labor unions
Newspapers
Jack Ciattarelli (R)
Executive branch officials
Governors
U.S. Representatives
State legislators
Individuals
Newspapers
Trade associations
Declined to endorse

Polling

Aggregate polls

More information Source of poll aggregation, Date(s) administered ...

Graphical summary

Table

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
Hypothetical polling
Phil Murphy vs. generic opponent

Results

During the election, several technical problems with internet connections were reported across the state after newly installed voting machines were used for the first time, resulting in machine malfunctions that were eventually resolved. This caused a delay in the final results.[130][131][132] With 98% of the vote tallied, Ciattarelli conceded to Murphy at a news conference on November 12, 2021, and announced he would run again in 2025.[133]

Results of the general election by municipality, darker colors indicate higher win percentage:
•Blue municipalities won by Murphy •Red municipalities won by Ciattarelli •Purple municipality (Loch Arbour) tied
More information Party, Candidate ...

Results by county

More information County, Murphy ...

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Results by congressional district

Murphy and Ciattarelli each won six of 12 congressional districts. Four districts won by Ciattarelli were represented by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

More information District, Murphy ...

[138]

See also

Notes

  1. Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  2. This poll was sponsored by the Democratic Governors Association
  3. Internal poll for the Hirsh Singh campaign
  4. While the NJRTL recommended that voters choose Ciatarelli over Murphy, they refused to endorse him due to his support of abortion
  5. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
  6. "Someone Else" with 3%; "No One" with 1%
  7. "Refused" with 1%
  8. "Other candidate" with 1%; "No one" with 1%
  9. "Refused" with 1%
  10. "Other candidate" with 2%; "No one" with <1%
  11. Internal poll for the Jack Ciattarelli campaign
  12. This poll was sponsored by Club for Growth Action
  13. Mele (L) with 2%; Hoffman (G) with 1%; Kuniansky (SW) with <1%
  14. "Other candidate" with 2%; "No one" with 1%
  15. "Someone Else" with 4%; "No One" with 1%
  16. "Neither" with 7%; "Someone else" with 4%; "Would not vote" with 2%
  17. "Neither" with 6%; "Someone else" with 4%; "Would not vote" with 1%
  18. This poll was sponsored by Project Ready
  19. "Consider voting for someone else [besides Murphy]" with 21%; Undecided with 6%
  20. In New Jersey, within 30 days after the certification of the statewide primary election, the candidate for governor selects a running mate to join the ticket as the candidate for lieutenant governor.[136] The governor and lieutenant governor must be members of the same political party. As candidates they campaign on the same ticket, are elected conjointly, and serve the same four-year term concurrently.[136][137]

References

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  10. "Sheila Oliver vows to be a 'very different' lieutenant governor". POLITICO. July 26, 2017. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy officially announced former Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver as his running mate on Wednesday...
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