A week remains in the collision between Democratic incumbent Governor Phil Murphy and Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli. So far, early returns show Democrats outpacing Republicans in the race for governor:

Democrats have made 533,301 applications compared to 170,785 by Republicans and 251,513 by unaffiliated voters. Democrats have returned 252,993 (of 47.44%) of those applications, compared to 77,036 (45.11%) by Republicans and 56,631 by unaffiliated voters or 25,76%.

By way of comparison, massively Democratic Essex (41,720 Democrats) is far outpacing massively Republican Ocean (18,910 Republicans).

Somerset County, the home county of Republican gubernatorial nominee Ciattarelli:

Dems: 23,164 applications; against 11,330 returns.

GOP: 9,479 applications; against 4,500 returns.

Democrats are outpacing Republicans in this year’s three battleground legislative districts: LD2, LD8 and LD16, but not by much, reflecting real contests.

In the 2nd district, Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (D-2) vies with former Assemblyman Vince Polistina (R-2) for a vacant senate seat; while in the 8th, Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield (R-8) wants to displace Senator Dawn Addiego (D-8). In the 16th, the retirement of Senator Kip Bateman (R-16) pits Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-16) against former Congressman Mike Pappas.

The numbers so far reflect no real surprises.

As everyone feels compelled to note, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Garden State by one million.

To make up far that deficit, Ciattarelli has made trying to connect with unaffiliated and independent voters his major goal in the closing days of the campaign. But his late attempts to do so have not come with risks. When he tried to paint Murphy as mask mandate-happy in the aftermath of a Project Veritas video surfacing, the Murphy campaign responded with its go-to argument: Ciattarelli is a MAGA guy trying to be governor of Blue Jersey.