The Murphy for Governor Campaign wants Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli to concede, and to that end, released the following no-wiggle room memo from Mollie Binotto, Campaign Manager, Murphy for Governor:

“Overcoming historical trends and a challenging national environment, Governor Phil Murphy has won re-election against Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. The race has been called by the Associated Press, NBC Decision Desk, CNN, Dave Wasserman of Cook Political Report, and Steve Kornacki, among other well-respected outlets and election analysts. This was not a close race – it just seemed that way given the delayed reporting of votes on Tuesday night.

“Governor Murphy’s lead currently stands at 65,404 votes (2.59% margin), with the margin growing each day. Governor Murphy’s percentage margin is larger than Glenn Youngkin’s in Virginia (2.20%), which the Republican Governors Association publicly described as “healthy.” While Terry McAuliffe offered his concession days ago, Assemblyman Ciattarelli is refusing to concede and face reality. By failing to publicly acknowledge that he has lost the race, Assemblyman Ciattarelli is misleading his supporters into thinking he has a chance to prevail. But he does not.

“The numbers tell a clear story. The only remaining ballots to be counted are vote-by-mail ballots and provisional ballots. The vote-by-mail ballots overwhelmingly favor Governor Murphy (and will continue to do so). And there are not enough provisional ballots to erase Governor Murphy’s lead.

“The remaining vote-by-mail ballots will increase Governor Murphy’s margin. The Murphy campaign’s historic investment in its vote-by-mail program has paid off, with the Governor’s margin among vote-by-mail ballots exceeding his overall margins in every county. As the table below shows, Governor Murphy has won 68.1% of the votes that have been counted since Wednesday morning. The vast majority of these gains have been fueled by vote-by-mail ballots. The remaining vote-by-mail ballots yet to be counted — including the approximately 2,800 mail ballots with a signature deficiency that can be cured by November 13 — will further pad Governor Murphy’s lead. In addition, any mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and arrive by 8:00 p.m. on Monday, November 8 will be legally counted.

“The Governor’s current margin exceeds the total number of provisional ballots. Based on nearly complete reports from counties, we estimate that there are approximately 57,400 provisional ballots. Therefore, even in the impossible scenario that 100% of the provisional ballots were cast for Assemblyman Ciattarelli, Governor Murphy would still prevail.

“The race is over. Assemblyman Ciattarelli is mathematically eliminated, and he must accept the results and concede the race. His continuing failure to do so is an assault on the integrity of our elections.”