“Is this really happened?” a Democrat gaped, as Republican gubernatorial challenger Jack Ciattarelli at the very least made incumbent Democratic Governor Phil Murphy’s party look out-of-touch, muscle-bound, ineffectual, and perhaps politically arrogant and unfocused.

In the 11 o’clock hour, Ciattarelli led Murphy 51-48%, threatening to beat the progressive incumbent or make him crawl back into office.

“He better hope he loses,” a Democrat grunted to InsiderNJ in reference to Murphy.

If he squeaks in, his life will be made miserable by Democrats buzzcut at the local level by Ciatatrelli’s coattails.

Murphy wasn’t the only one dangling.

Hushed tones accompanied assessments of the conditions of Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and Senator Vin Gopal (D-11).

Would they survive the night?

The night was young, or long, depending on which party a person called his own.

It looked like the Democratic governor would walk back into power if anyone believed the polls, as his allies thought voters would affirm a second term for Murphy, who trusted in his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, including his firm grasp of facts, communications skills, humanity and good humor.

They believed Murphy would defeat Republican challenger Ciattarelli to become the first Democrat since Brendan Byrne in 1977 to secure a second term.

Ciattarelli ran an energetic race, and made a strong and well reasoned case for a reexamination of New Jersey’s controversial schools funding formula as a way of exerting fairness on an outmoded system. In the end, however, he would certainly run into a New Jersey electorate wary of a fractured Republican Party in the aftermath of President Donald J. Trump.

Trump

Trump.

Trump.

Surely his shadow would hang over this election cycle, too, Dems reasoned.

New Jersey’s paper of record, The Star-Ledger, in fact, reminded voters this morning of the right wing’s Jan. 6th assault on the United States Capitol.

Ciattarelli ran a noble campaign for the most part, but still saw fit to appeal to those inclinations embedded in the base of a party that continues to enable Trump, who encouraged his supporters to overturn the results of the 2020 election by laying siege to the Capitol.

Murphy enjoyed a built-in advantage of one million more Democratic votes in New Jersey.

Surely, he would win.

He even enhanced his own standing in his party with a list of accomplishments on the left, including a millionaire’s tax, legalization of marijuana, a pathway to a $15 minimum wage by the middle of the decade, and legal driver’s licenses for non-citizens.

The campaign brought in socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to campaign in the 11th hour.

Meanwhile, Ciattarelli emphasized the state’s ongoing property tax and fiscal crises to cash-strapped voters, many of whom live day to day in New Jersey with the idea alive in their minds that they may have to soon leave their home for somewhere else more affordable.

He hammered the Jersey-centric message as Murphy appeared to float among the stars.

Throughout, insiders kept a watch on Washington, D.C. Democrats, who failed to deliver an infrastructure bill in time for Election Day, in accord with the priorities of President Joe Biden. As Democrats stumbled in the nation’s capital, their ranks riven by progressives and moderates, Murphy tried to make his case for New Jersey as a Democratic Party stronghold where those divisions ultimately cohere for the broad party cause.

His allies talked about him as a certain presidential prospect.

But Ciattarelli the whole time was still running for the governorship of New Jersey.