New Jersey governor narrowly wins re-election as Biden says ‘people are upset’

US Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has narrowly won re-election after voting ended in an unexpected nail-biter for the incumbent.

Murphy became the first Democratic governor in four decades to win re-election in the densely populated northeastern coastal US state, even though registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million.

“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 in a brief victory speech.

Murphy garnered 50.03% of the vote, compared with 49.22% for Ciattarelli, with 90% of ballots counted.

New Jersey’s gubernatorial race suddenly become the country’s most-watched election as a potential bellwether for next year’s congressional midterms.

There was no immediate word from Jack Ciattarelli conceding defeat. His campaign spokesperson, Sami Williams, posted a tweet criticizing the media for calling the race when it did.

“With the candidates separated by a fraction of a percent out of 2.4 million ballots cast, it’s irresponsible of the media to make this call when the New Jersey Secretary of State doesn’t even know how many ballots are left to be counted,” she wrote.

Ciattarelli capitalized on widespread unpopularity with Murphy’s aggressive mask requirements for schoolchildren.

The Republican had also focused much of his campaign on the state’s high taxes, while accusing Murphy, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive, of being out of touch with the electorate.

Ciattarelli’s unexpectedly strong performance in New Jersey, and a Republican victory on Tuesday in Virginia’s hard-fought gubernatorial race spelled trouble for Biden’s party heading into next year’s congressional elections.