Murphy and Ciattarelli both say they can’t wait to celebrate victory

At their respective election night parties, Gov. Phil Murphy and Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli each acknowledged the results of the gubernatorial election wouldn’t be known tonight, but said they anticipate celebrating a victory with their supporters in the coming days.

“We’re all sorry that tonight cannot yet be the celebration we wanted it to be,” Murphy said from a stage in Asbury Park. “But as I said, when every vote is counted, and every vote will be counted, we hope to have a celebration.”

“Sometime real soon, when we can declare, unequivocally, a victory, we will begin to fix the state of New Jersey and make this state someplace where everyone feels confident they can live, work, retire, start a business, raise a family,” Ciattarelli declared soon afterwards at his own event. 

Ciattarelli also claimed a victory in messaging and politics, even if he can’t yet call himself governor-elect.

“This is what I love about this state if you study its history: every single time it’s gone too far off track, the people of this state have pushed, pulled, and prodded it right back to where it needs to be,” he said.

The closeness of the gubernatorial race tracks with a statewide election that more broadly has seemed to deliver unexpectedly good results for Republicans, though many races remain too close to call and a number of outstanding votes are yet to be counted.