Iman Ali ’23
Phillip Murphy, a Democrat, ran against Republican candidate Jack Cittarelli in early November 2021 for the position of New Jersey governor. According to the New York Times, Murphy’s strict COVID protocols and left leaning approach as governor led to his ultimate victory, making him the first Democratic governor to be re-elected in NJ. The vote was very close, with Murphy ahead of Cittarelli by less than one percentage point when the Associated Press called the race for Murphy on Wednesday, November 3. At one point, Cittarelli was in the lead with his ideas on taxes and on how Murphy’s COVID laws are undermining personal freedoms. These ideas were momentarily proving popular in the state. However, after his victory, Governor Murphy vows to listen to the people of New Jersey and plans to keep up his current ideals in the next four years.
According to Politico, a reasonable number of people were happy about the race and a fair amount were upset. The outcome was 1,339,471 (51.2%) votes for Murphy and 1,255,185 (48%) votes for Cittarelli. In Union County, 61.6% of people voted for Murphy and 37.6% voted for Cittarelli.
Border by Katie Nguyen ’23