Kelly Shepsko - Lead

Corey Dunn - Supporting

Governor’s race main story

New Jersey’s gubernatorial election results in red

HAMILTON, N.J. — Results for the gubernatorial election are in and after

seven years of being primarily a blue state, New Jersey has elected a

Republican governor.

Chris Christie, a fiscal conservative and former U.S. attorney, will take the

seat as 55th Governor of New Jersey on January 20th, 2010 and is preparing to

fulfill his role as the leader of New Jersey politics.

“Election is not about who votes, but about the future of the state we love,

the state of New Jersey,” Christie said Tuesday night during his victory speech at

his campaign headquarters in Parsippany. “Tomorrow begins the task of fixing

our broken state.”

Christie gained a victory with 48.7 percent of the vote. Christie’s opponent,

Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, came close to keeping his seat as

governor with 44.6 percent of the vote. He handled the defeat in fair

sportsmanship, although the gubernatorial race was head-to-head in the past few

weeks.

“I called Christie and congratulated him, and he was gracious in

response,” Corzine said during his concession speech. “We will work hard

together to insure his transition to governor goes smoothly.”

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Independent Chris Daggett pulled in 5.8 percent of the vote, according to

the New York Times. Daggett did not pull as much as predicted.

“It is not us winning, but that’s okay,” Daggett announced as results began

piling in Tuesday night. “When we find out who wins, we must support that

person with all of our energy and make this state the best it can be with that

support.”

Members at both the Democratic and Republican parties of Hamilton

waited anxiously for results as they slowly started trickling in after the polls

closed.

“I have backed Corzine 110 percent since he was elected and will

continue to,” said Democrat Cliff Reisser, an organized labor union electrician.

“Being part of a labor union, we have all shown strong support for him.”

Although Democrats looked worried as the results slowly came in, those at

the Republican party clapped and smiled at one another when new information

was announced, especially when they learned they had secured Hamilton’s vote.

Christie’s policy and promise to lower taxes seemed to be the breaking

issue that led to his win in the Garden State. He also made it a point to avoid

bashing any opponents as much as possible during the campaign, which he

believes led to his win.

“Let’s put petty politics in New Jersey behind us,” Christie said.

The election was seen as a nasty one because of the amount of bashing

ads against the candidates. According to New York magazine, Corzine’s

campaign spent more than $17 million, three times more than Christie had spent,
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on advertising. Some of Corzine’s ads mocked Christie based on his driving

record, his failure to report taxes from a loan to a friend and his weight.

Christie responded, saying Corzine should come out and call him fat if

Corzine was going to use Christie’s weight as a source of negativity during the

campaign.

“This is now about governing,” Christie said. “I won.”

Though Republicans are thrilled by their victory, most Democrats are

upset with the new Republican governor-elect.

“I will continue to support Corzine because Christie said pre-school was

unnecessary and ‘babyish’ when statistics actually prove that it helps children’s

learning,” said John Mckee, a high school senior. “He should be supporting

children, not trying to lessen their learning.”

There are others who are concerned for children’s early education. Marilyn

Silverman, 56, believes that a child’s education is one of the more important

issues in New Jersey.

“I think [Corzine] has recognized that we need our budget to be under

control, and he has made tremendous cuts while supporting the important things

such as a child’s early education and municipal government,” Silverman said.

“He deserved to be re-elected.”

Although Corzine lost the election and is retiring from politics, Christie’s

win in New Jersey, along with a Republican win in the Virginia gubernatorial

election, could have national consequences.

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“I’m not glad Christie won, but his win gives me hope that President

Obama will be out of office in four years,” said Paul Racioppi a Rider student

from Old Bridge, New Jersey

Obama supported Corzine’s campaign, but now that Christie is governor,

and Republicans swept in local elections, it may force change in Washington.

“The 2009 election results are certainly not going to make it easy for

Speaker Nancy Pelosi to round up the 218 votes for Democrats’ health care

bills,” said Michael Barone, a political analyst for the Washington Examiner.

Christie wants to work with Democrats to help solve New Jersey’s big

problems like high property taxes. He claims the problems are too big to say they

can be solved with strictly Republican or strictly Democratic ideas, according to

nj.com.

“Failure is not a part of my vocabulary,” Christie said.