Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has been re-elected, multiple US networks projected on Wednesday.
Murphy defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman, to become the first Democrat since 1977 to win re-election as governor of New Jersey.
In recent weeks, both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared with Murphy in the state, noted The Wall Street Journal.
Ciattarelli, during his campaign, criticized Murphy’s fiscal policies and promised to cut state spending. Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive who was first elected in 2017, raised taxes on millionaires and expanded educational programs.
Ciattarelli also criticized Murphy’s requirement that school students wear masks while in the classroom and faulted the governor for a policy early in the pandemic that allowed nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients from hospitals. Murphy explained that the masking policy is needed to keep children safe and called the coronavirus nursing home deaths a tragedy.
In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin won the governor race, defeating incumbent Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
Youngkin, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, became the first Republican to win a statewide election in the state since 2009.