After a nail-biting race to reach most votes, Phil Murphy got re-elected as governor of New Jersey from the Democratic party for the first time since 1977. Supporters of Murphy chanted “Four more years”, as the governor delivered his victory speech after the very close race.
The election race was more than what both parties expected, with the state having more than a million registered Democratic voters than Republican, while the loss of Virginia was still very fresh, it was hard to lean towards one particular candidate as the winner according to trends. Democrats still came above unbeaten by a small margin. The party’s Phil Murphy got reelected and broke the previous spell of Jersey only electing an opposite party governor from the current president in office, since 1989.
Murphy gave an emotional and uniting speech after his win saying, ”If you want to be governor of all of New Jersey, you must listen to all of New Jersey. And New Jersey, I hear you,” he told the crowd.
Many are calling the near loss of the election by Democrats the result of strict mask and vaccine mandates, imposed by the state governor Phil Murphy himself. Many other questions have been raised regarding the state’s potential standing towards tax impositions, higher minimum wages, and restrictions on firearms, as Murphy is likely to work towards the proposed measures by the Democratic party.
Biden’s overall approval in different states seems to have gone down a notch, by which demographic, it is not sure yet. After the party’s severe scale back on the Build a Back Better plan, and other relatively progressive policy measures such as backing climate policies and abortion rights, it has lost the approval from both progressive and conservative sides significantly.
However, Democratic party Rep. AOC recently took to her Instagram to talk about the wins that the Democratic party have been accumulating, including the election wins of Tiffany Cabban, Shahana Hanif, Michelle Wu, and the Democratic Socialists of America, but keeping it under wraps so “conservatives and lobbyists” don’t try to kill the successes.
She also talked about how the results show the limits of the specifically 100% moderate campaign that does not “excite or speak to” a progressive base.
