'Race Is Far From Over,’ Ciattarelli Does Not Concede Gov. Race

NEW JERSEY — All eyes are still on New Jersey as the race for governor refuses to end. While Gov. Phil Murphy was called as the winner of the razor-thin race by the Associated Press on Wednesday, Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli wasn't ready to throw in the towel so quickly.

Late Thursday night, the Republican candidate for New Jersey governor released a message to Twitter where he said: "The governor's victory speech last night was premature. No one should be declaring victory or conceding the election until every legal vote is counted."

He also said there are "still tens of thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots yet to be counted" out of the 2.4 million ballots cast in this extremely close governor's race.

According to Ciattarelli, it "could take another week or two, and we've got compliance people watching over them. If necessary, any decision on a recount or audit will come at the very end of the counting process, not before."

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He goes on to say that all counties will continue the counting process, which could take a week or two, and added that his team has compliance people overseeing the process. If a recount is needed, he said, the call will be made after the votes are counted.

Although Murphy's victory speech was full of thanks and praise on becoming the first Democrat in New Jersey to win a second term in 40 years, it was not the sweeping win Murphy's camp had hoped for.

There were points during election night on Tuesday when the Democrat was trailing his Republican challenger by 50,000 votes, holding out hope that urban strongholds in Essex and Passaic County would redeem him.

In total, across 956,803 mail-in ballots were mailed to voters and 577,528 mail-in ballots have been received by the end of day Thursday, according to New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way, who oversees the voting process in New Jersey.

A total of 379,275 mail-in ballots have thus far not been returned, according to her office. Ballots have until Nov. 8 to be returned and legally counted, as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 2.

"I don't want people falling victim to wild conspiracy theories or online rumors," Ciattarelli also said in the video. "While consideration is paid to any and all credible reports, please don't believe everything you see or read online."

Watch Ciattarelli's most recent message to the voters of New Jersey:

Time for another Jack Chat.

And this might be the most important one yet, so please watch and share. pic.twitter.com/Nmc03ATpTV

— Jack Ciattarelli (@Jack4NJ) November 4, 2021

“County election officials are working diligently to ensure all votes are counted. Once all votes have been counted, the counties will provide the results to the state in order to certify the 2021 General Election," said Secretary of State Tahesha Way.

"This race is far from over," said Ciattarelli in an email his campaign sent out at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon, entitled "Our Next Steps." Our team is making sure every legal vote is counted and the will of the people is heard loud and clear."

Ciattarelli's team is also asking for donations. Read more: NJ Gov Race: Legal Action 'Not Off The Table' For Ciattarelli

"To make our path to victory as smooth as possible, we rely on assistance from grassroots supporters, like yourself, to help us get there."

As of Thursday afternoon, Gov. Murphy is ahead by 40,000 votes, with 1,247,061 to 1,206,360 for Ciattarelli, and 98 percent of the vote is in.

Ciattarelli has not conceded yet, saying that not all the mail-in and provisional votes have been counted. He has not conceded and his team is not ruling out either a recount or a legal challenge to the election results, with his campaign spokeswoman exclusively telling Patch Wednesday: "Right now it's too soon to tell, but nothing is off of the table."

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