So, who cares when, and if, Jack Ciattarelli publicly admits that he lost?

Some may certainly take that view. After all, the numbers are the numbers and a concession speech is not going to change anything.

For the record, Phil Murphy is now leading by about 65,000 votes.

When Ciattarelli last week posted a video, or as he calls it, a “Jack Chat,” to say all the votes had to be counted, the spread was about 44,000 votes.

So, you can see which candidate is benefitting from the continued counting.

Getting back to “who cares,”  Team Murphy seems to care.

The Murphy campaign sent out a statement this morning pointing out that Murphy’s margin of victory, percentage-wise, already is a bit larger than the one accomplished by Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia.

It said that Ciattarelli’s refusal to concede “is an assault on the integrity of our elections.”

That’s a bit too rhetorical.

This has nothing to do with election integrity given the fact the actual election is over.

It does have to do, sadly, with the stain Donald Trump has put on our democracy. Many Republicans, it seems, now operate on the assumption they didn’t really lose.

Trump’s example is clear-cut. He never conceded the 2020 election and likely never will.

All of this is fueled by some members of the GOP rank and file who are claiming all sorts of chicanery was afoot last week. If you doubt that, scan relevant social media sites.

Ciattarelli last week did urge his supporters to ignore crazy Internet rumors, but that’s as far as he has gone.

One imagines Ciattarelli will acknowledge Murphy’s win eventually.

Then again, no matter what he says. Murphy is going to be governor for another four years.