Murphy Team Doubles Down On Governor Race Victory: 'This Was Not a Close Race'

NEW JERSEY — Almost a week after Election Day and ballots are still being counted in New Jersey's race for Governor. Nonetheless, Governor Phil Murphy's team is doubling down on his claimed victory, retaliating against Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli's criticism that it was too close to call a winner in the race.

"This was not a close race - it just seemed that way given the delayed reporting of votes on Tuesday night," read a statement from Murphy's campaign manager, Mollie Binotto.

According to Murphy's team, his lead stands at 65,404 votes, a 2.59 percent margin which is expected to grow as ballots are counted. The team pointed out that the margin is larger than Glenn Youngkin’s in Virginia, which was 2.20 percent, which the Republican Governors Association publicly described as "healthy."

"While Terry McAuliffe offered his concession days ago, Assemblyman Ciattarelli is refusing to concede and face reality. 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. But he does not," the statement reads.

Ciattarelli released a video on Thursday calling for a continuation of the vote counting, reusing to concede until "every legal vote is counted."

"There are still tens of thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots yet to be counted — and so, the Governor's victory speech last night was premature. No one should be declaring victory or conceding the election until every legal vote is counted," Ciattarelli says in his video message.

He goes on to say that all counties will continue the counting process, which could take a week or two, and added that his team has compliance people overseeing the process. If a recount is needed, he said, the call will be made after the votes are counted.

Although Murphy's victory speech was full of thanks and praise on becoming the first Democrat in New Jersey to win a second term in 40 years, it was not the sweeping win Murphy's camp had hoped for.

There were points during election night on Tuesday when the Democrat was trailing his Republican challenger by 50,000 votes, holding out hope that urban strongholds in Essex and Passaic County would redeem him. The team is highlighting now, that the votes from those areas came through and showed a picture closer to what they expected.

"The Governor’s current margin exceeds the total number of provisional ballots. Based on nearly complete reports from counties, we estimate that there are approximately 57,400 provisional ballots. Therefore, even in the impossible scenario that 100% of the provisional ballots were cast for Assemblyman Ciattarelli, Governor Murphy would still prevail. The race is over. Assemblyman 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," Murphy's statement reads.

ALSO READ:

• Murphy Wins 2nd Term After Close NJ Governor Race: AP
• Murphy Accepts Victory With Speech, Ciattarelli Unconvinced