Republicans are crying foul in the New Jersey gubernatorial election, viewing an influx of nearly 500,000 new Democratic voters with skepticism.
The landslide Republican loss in New Jersey was one of the biggest surprises of Tuesday night, as Republican strategists had viewed the race as the more promising gubernatorial race compared to Virginia. The scale of the loss has led some Republicans to question the integrity of the results, given an increase of 500,000 new voters versus 2021, more than double the state’s population growth.
“New Jersey saw 500,000+ more votes than any other year in history, and nearly all of them went to Democrats?” popular X user Chief Nerd said, alongside a contemplating emoji.
The post was quoting another user pointing out that every New Jersey gubernatorial election since 1969 had hovered around 2 million to 2.5 million voters, with the winner claiming about 1.1 to 1.4 million votes. This over half-century streak was broken on Tuesday, with well over three million voters, with 1.7 million going to Democrat Mikie Sherrill.
While the shocking figures sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories and accusations that the Democrats had rigged the election, other analysts pinned the surge in turnout on an increasingly politicized climate in the U.S.
“It’s interesting that both parties are doing better at getting registered voters to turn out for them, and that perhaps speaks to the increasing importance of elections, due to the long-running trend of increasing government involvement in both culture and the economy,” Maxim Lott, a former executive producer for John Stossel, wrote in an analysis on Substack.
Not all conspiracy theories from Republicans were directed at New Jersey Democrats, however. Conservative activist Mike Crispi pointed the finger at other Republicans, alleging sabotage from old guard Republican establishment figures, mainly what he called the “Chris Christie faction.”
One major target was Morris Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Ali.
“She reportedly bragged about ‘throwing out Jack campaign materials, canceling Morris GOTV events for Jack, and encouraged people to write in John Bramnick’ (a Christie ally),” Crispi wrote.
NEW JERSEY ELECTION POST-MORTEM: WHAT CAUSED CIATTARELLI AND OTHER GOP LOSSES?
“Examples like his happened in MULTIPLE counties. I will continue to expose it all. Spadea, Christie, Gilmore, Bramnick. With useful idiots like Laura Ali. That’s the team that worked across the state to [sabotage] Jack’s voter turnout,” he added.
After a year of listlessness, the Democrats experienced their first major electoral string of victories on Tuesday, sweeping the Republicans in every major race. Republicans have largely shrugged off the losses due to the elections being held in blue states, but some fear the momentum could continue into the midterms next year.