NEWARK – In reflections delivered at a podium in Greater Abyssinian Baptist Church, Governor Phil Murphy permitted himself a mild endzone dance in the aftermath of Tuesday’s elections.

He gave a shout out to Mayor Ras Baraka for getting out the vote in Newark to help propel Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to reelection.

“Thank you,” he told Baraka.

The two of them had moments earlier shown an emotional connection in front of an assembled congregation, the mayor telling President Donald J. Trump to stay out of Newark and the governor quoting Bobby Kennedy quoting Aeschylus to make a point about peace among American peoples.

Both sets of remarks won sustained applause and celebration.

When he appeared with reporters, Murphy said he reached out to all the winners to congratulate them, including U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4), who may end up being the only Republican left standing from yesterday.

“Andy Kim’s race remains too close to call,” Murphy said of CD-3. “We’re going to have to wait a few more days. We have grown our Democratic delegation to its greatest majority since the Watergate era.”

On Monday the delegation stood at 7-5 Democrat.

Now it’s 10-2, and it may turn out to be 11-1.

He saluted Josh Welle, beaten by Smith, and thanked the voters.

“I thank every one of them for refusing to take a back seat on our democracy and exercising their right to vote,” Murphy said.

Without naming him, he jabbed at unsuccessful Republican senate nominee Bob Hugin.

“One of the candidates said he hoped it would rain,” Murphy said. “That ain’t right. People were killed for the right to vote.

“New Jersey Democrats had a great night,” he added. “Expect to see more of this to come.”

He spoke to the possibility of more blue incursions into the suburbs next year, as he looks for a leg up legislatively.

“Turn the page to 2019 – it’s a huge priority,” Murphy said. “I’m looking forward to working with incumbents to help them and help people challenging the other side.”

He hinted that there might be some special senate elections next year.

He also noted that he’s from the Howard Dean school of politics, which means he likes to play everywhere.

But mostly he crowed about last night.

“We got Barack Obama to get the word out to 100,000 voters,” he said.

He cited freeholder wins in Burlington and Somerset and local wins in Flemington.

“Not everything went smoothly,” he acknowledged. “There were vote by mail issues.”

The kinks could be solved by “true early voting,” he added.

Looking to the national horizon, the governor said, “We still have a president who holds our New Jersey values in contempt.”

The House flipped, Murphy noted, in part “thanks to New Jersey.”