Democrat Phil Murphy Wins New Jersey Governor’s Race

Democrat Phil Murphy has won the New Jersey gubernatorial race, beating Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.

Murphy served as U.S. ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013, and he worked for over 20 years at Goldman Sachs.

Governor Chris Christie‘s approval rating recently hit 14 percent, and a report from Politico this morning looks at how his low popularity may have factored into this race:

As Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno vied for last-minute votes over the frenzied final days of the New Jersey governor’s race, Chris Christie never showed up on the stump. In fact, the governor has not appeared in public once to support Guadagno, who has been by his side for more than eight years.

With Christie’s approval hitting 14 percent among likely voters in a recent poll, it’s not hard to not see why. Once considered by many to be the future of the Republican party, Christie is now too toxic for the very people who helped put him in power.

New Jersey has also been dealing with the ongoing corruption trial of Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, currently in jury deliberations. And if Menendez is found guilty, the governor gets to approve his successor.

[image via screengrab]

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