Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy projected to win in New Jersey

The Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty has secured its first major pick­up of the Trump error tonight by recap­tur­ing the gov­er­nor­ship of New Jer­sey from the Repub­li­cans, putting an end to eight years of mis­man­age­ment by Don­ald Trump backer Chris Christie.

Sec­onds after polls closed at 8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacif­ic, mass media declared Mur­phy the vic­tor, pro­ject­ing that he would become the state’s next gov­er­nor. Christie’s lieu­tenant Kim Guadag­no was the Repub­li­can nominee.

“Thank you, New Jer­sey! We’re ready to have your back in Tren­ton!,” tweet­ed a very hap­py Mur­phy, who post­ed a pho­to of him­self on Twit­ter with his Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor-elect, Sheila Oliver.

Mur­phy’s win rais­es the num­ber of states with a Demo­c­ra­t­ic tri­fec­ta from six to sev­en. (It could go to eight in a few hours if Democ­rats retake the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate by flip­ping the 45th LD, the 31st LD, or both from red to blue.)

“In Mr. Mur­phy,” wrote The New York Times’ Nick Corasan­i­ti fol­low­ing the Asso­ci­at­ed Press’ call of the race, “vot­ers select­ed Mr. Christie’s oppo­site — an ener­getic politi­cian who yearns to be liked, embraces unions, loathes the pres­i­dent, sup­ports gun con­trol and has been open about his will­ing­ness to raise tax­es on the wealthy to help fix the state’s floun­der­ing economy.”

The Demo­c­ra­t­ic Gov­er­nors Asso­ci­a­tion released a state­ment hail­ing Mur­phy’s vic­to­ry and not­ing Repub­li­cans had not con­ced­ed the race pri­or to Elec­tion Day.

“Con­grat­u­la­tions to Gov­er­nor-Elect Phil Mur­phy,” said Con­necti­cut Gov­er­nor Dan Mal­loy, who cur­rent­ly chairs the DGA.

“Phil ran an incred­i­ble cam­paign focused on his vision for an econ­o­my that works for all Gar­den State fam­i­lies, and I look for­ward to work­ing with him.”

“The DGA was proud to invest near­ly $4 mil­lion and play a key role in pick­ing up this crit­i­cal seat. New Jer­sey vot­ers made clear that they are ready to turn the page from 8 years of failed poli­cies and failed lead­er­ship in New Jersey.”

“This result points to larg­er prob­lems for Repub­li­cans as they play defense in many open-seat races com­ing up next year. Today’s elec­tion was not just a vic­to­ry for Gov­er­nor-Elect Mur­phy. It was a vic­to­ry for the near­ly nine mil­lion New Jer­sey res­i­dents who will now have a Gov­er­nor look­ing out for them: for their edu­ca­tion, for their health care, and for their jobs.”

The DGA’s state­ment went on to note that:

Repub­li­cans raised and spent sig­nif­i­cant mon­ey in New Jer­sey despite Phil Murphy’s strong per­for­mance and polling through­out the cam­paign.  In Novem­ber 2016, RGA Chair­man Scott Walk­er laid a mark­er that Repub­li­cans expect­ed to com­pete and win in New Jer­sey, say­ing “We think we can do well in both Vir­ginia – where we have a chance for a pick­up – and New Jer­sey in 2017.” This Sep­tem­ber, RGA Chair­man Scott Walk­er and Gov­er­nor Christie teamed up to host a fundrais­er for Kim Guadag­no that net­ted $2.1 mil­lion. On top of that, they’ve spent over $2 mil­lion on Guadagno’s behalf.

Mur­phy’s win was called as Democ­rats in Vir­ginia were surg­ing to vic­to­ry; all three statewide can­di­dates in the Old Domin­ion have now been declared the win­ners.