As Joe Piscopo, actor, comedian and radio host, .
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno leaves the both after voting during the primary gubernatorial election at the Church of The Precious Blood parish center, Tuesday June 6, 2017 in Monmouth Beach, N.J, New Jersey voters are getting down to the business of picking a successor to Republican Gov. Chris Christie, the winners will go on to compete in the November 7 general election.
The election comes as Trump administration developments swamp headlines, spurring Murphy to lash out at the Republican president and wedging Guadagno between an unpopular White House and a governor of whom most voters disapprove.
The two primary victors will face off in the general election in November to succeed Christie, a once-rising Republican star whose popularity has plunged in recent years. Phil Murphy is the leading Democratic candidate, while Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno is the leading Republican.
Murphy blurs the line between establishment and insurgent just as Democrats reckon with whether their best candidates should come from within or outside the traditional party structure.
In his victory speech Tuesday night, he suggested that a vote for Guadagno would be like giving Gov Christie and third term.
There were contests in eight state Senate and 15 Assembly races overall.
Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno won the New Jersey gubernatorial Republican primary with 47.8 percent of the vote, and Democratic businessman Philip Murphy won the Democratic primary with 47.4 percent of the vote in the Tuesday primaries to replace Republican Governor Chris Christie.
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On the Democratic ballot are former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy, state Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), activist and former firefighter Bill Brennan, former prosecutor and U.S. Treasury official Jim Johnson, state Sen.
Diegnan is in the race for State Senator of the 18th district.
Democrats are favored in New Jersey's general election, in part because of an 800,000-voter registration advantage and because of political headwinds stemming from Christie's and Trump's unpopularity.
"We will stand up to this president with a steel backbone", Murphy said. Donald Trump is a particular millstone for Garden State Republicans, having lost the state to Hillary Clinton by 14 points. The 10 contenders between the two parties was the largest of Tuesday's primary races in Warren County.
Christie has also been tarnished by the scandal in which two former aides were convicted for scheming to close down lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to punish a mayor for failing to endorse Christie's re-election campaign.
Guadagno, who was twice elected on the ticket with Christie, has gone to great lengths to try to highlight their differences. Christie now has a stunningly low 18 percent approval rating. She said she opposed a transportation funding plan the governor enacted that also raised the gas tax. "My principles are Main Street principles". He has said he would campaign if asked, but it's unclear whether his assistance would help or hurt, since about three-quarters of voters disapprove of his job performance.
Murphy immediately linked his Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, to Christie and President Trump.
Associated Press writers David Porter, in Alpine, and Bruce Shipkowski, in Freehold, contributed to this report.
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