Murphy campaigns tells Ciattarelli to admit he lost

Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign manager thinks it’s time for Republican Jack Ciattarelli to concede his loss in last week’s gubernatorial election.

“The race is over,” said Mollie Binotto in a memorandum released on Monday morning.  “Ciattarelli is mathematically eliminated, and he must accept the results and concede the race.  His continuing failure to do so is an assault on the integrity of our elections.”

The latest Decision Desk HQ tally has Murphy leading by 65,445 votes and 2.59 percentage points, 50.91% to 48.32%.

Democrats argue that there aren’t enough votes for Ciattarelli to overcome Murphy’s lead.  They estimate 57,400 uncounted provisional ballots and say Murphy has won 68.1% of vote-by-mail ballots that have come in since Wednesday.

“By failing to publicly acknowledge that he has lost the race, Assemblyman Ciattarelli is misleading his supporters into thinking he has a chance to prevail,” Binotto said.  “But he does not.”

But Ciattarelli said on Thursday that he’s going to wait until every legal vote in counted.”

“What’s most important is for everyone be patient and let the process play out,” Ciattarelli said in a video he posted on social media.  “I promise you, whatever the outcome election result will be legal and fair.  You have my word.”
Mollie Binotto post election