Re-elected New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Vows To Do More Following His Narrow Win Against Republican Jack Ciattarelli

Phil Murphy Delivers Victory Speech After Narrow Win In New Jersey Governor Race — ASBURY PARK, NJ - NOVEMBER 03: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy delivers a victory speech to supporters at Grand Arcade at the Pavilion on November 3, 2021 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Murphy's narrow victory over Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli makes him the first Democratic New Jersey governor in more than four decades to win reelection. Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

Gov. Phil Murphy won against Republican Jack Ciattarelli but only by two points during Tuesday's gubernatorial election.

Following his narrow win, Murphy vowed to do more for New Jersey, and he also acknowledged that he might not have been able to beat his opponent if not for some of his programs that are already in place.

Since Murphy serves as the incumbent governor of New Jersey, he has already managed to expand pre-K. He has also been supporting programs on paid sick leave and higher taxes for the rich.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy releases statement

But the fact that Murphy only won two points against Ciattarelli served as a wake-up call for the governor and his team.

"It's quite clear that there's a lot of hurt out there. And there are a lot of kitchen tables that we need to connect more deeply with and help folks get through this period, whether they lost a loved one, a job, a small business - they're frustrated by the ongoing pandemic or economic recovery, whatever it may be," he said via the Huffington Post.

But Murphy also said he would try his best to reach deeply into more families in New Jersey following his re-election.

Gov. Phil Murphy's re-election is historical

Murphy's recent win is historic for two reasons. First, he's the first sitting Democrat to be re-elected governor of New Jersey in 44 years. Second, his narrow win against Ciattarelli was very different from the 2017 gubernatorial election results.

At the time, Murphy won by 14 points. And according to reports, more than 450,000 people have registered as Democrats since then, giving the party 1 million more voters than Republicans.

Danny Franklin explains New Jersey governor's narrow win

According to North Jersey, the narrow win is viewed as a backlash on Murphy's progressive agenda. However, the governor has no plans to change his programs, but he will tackle more issues in New Jersey following his re-election.

While speaking with The New Yorker, Murphy's longtime pollster Danny Franklin explained why he thinks the governor's initial predictions will win against Ciattarelli by 8 to 10 points were proven to be incorrect.

Franklin explained that there were historic surges in turnout in Republican counties but not in Democratic counties.

The longtime pollster also responded to claims that Murphy didn't win by a huge margin because he was criticized over tax rates, as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Franklin explained that these might not be the real reason behind the governor's narrow win. After all, the property tax rates in New Jersey were also deemed a bit too high in 2017.

Instead, Franklin believes that voters are more cynical these days because they see that nothing is working. New Jersey residents and entire America were also promised that they would no longer be dealing with COVID-19 by now, but after almost two years, they are still affected by the deadly virus.

All these may have been factors why some Democrats may have opted to vote for Murphy's opponent.