Guadagno, Murphy Score Solid Primary Wins, Will Face Each Other in Race to be NJ’s Next Governor

Republican Kim Guadagno and Democrat Phil Murphy will square off against each other in the general election for Governor after solid wins in their respective parties’ primaries Tuesday night.

Murphy, a former U.S. Ambassador and Wall Street executive, garnered 48 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, outpacing his main challengers, attorney Jim Johnson and Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who had 22 percent each.

Guadagno, the state’s first lieutenant governor, won 47 percent of the vote to beat her main rival, Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who had 31 percent.

The two nominees will now vie to succeed Gov. Chris Christie and become the state’s first new chief executive in eight years. The two winners have been invited to a joint appearance as their parties’ nominees this coming Tuesday night at NJBIA’s State ELC Gubernatorial Reception.

After thanking their supporters and their opponents on primary night, both candidates turned their attention to the future.

“From Edison to Einstein, New Jersey has helped invent the future,” Murphy said.  “It is time to invent it again. It is time again to think big.”

Guadagno also spoke of the task ahead.

“Let’s move forward with hope that tomorrow will indeed be better than today with a sense of possibilities,” Guadagno said.  “Let’s choose to have a better future for our children.”

NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka offered her congratulations to Guadagno and Murphy and urged them to remember the importance of economic growth as the general election campaign takes shape.

“This will be a historic election that will determine which direction New Jersey will go,” Siekerka said. “As the candidates begin making their case to the voters, we want to make sure the economy is front and center in their campaigns. The next Governor will have a lot to do with determining whether or not we have a state that supports small business and produces good-paying jobs.”

Guadagno and Murphy will run with candidates for all 40 State Senate seats and 80 General Assembly seats.

Several of the legislative districts had contested primaries. Probably the biggest race was in the 40th Legislative District, where Kristin Corrado beat County Chairman Paul DiGaetano to be the Republican nominee for state Senate.

Here are the vote totals as reported by the news website NJ Spotlight this morning. Results are unofficial. Percentages may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.

Republican Primary for Governor

Democratic Primary for Governor

Legislative Races

Voters chose one Senate candidate and two Assembly candidates. *Denotes incumbent.

District 12 Senate—Republican Primary

District 12 Assembly—Republican Primary

District 24 Senate—Republican Primary

District 24 Assembly—Republican Primary

District 26 Assembly—Republican Primary

District 40 Senate—Republican Primary

District 40 Assembly—Republican Primary