Jack Ciattarelli, the upstart Republican who came within a hairsbreadth of ousting New Jersey Governor Murphy, spurned calls from Murphy to concede the race.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Monday, Murphy said Ciattarelli should concede because it is now impossible for him to win.

Separately, Murphy’s campaign earlier demanded that Ciattarelli concede the all-but-lost race.

“Assemblyman Ciattarelli is mathematically eliminated, and he must accept the results and concede the race,” said Mollie Binotto, Murphy’s campaign manager. “His continuing failure to do so is an assault on the integrity of our elections.”

The Ciattarelli campaign responded with a statement of their own, saying they won’t be conceding until every vote is counted.

“Waiting an additional day or two for all votes to be counted should not be controversial,” said Ciattarelli legal counsel Mark Sheridan. “Let me be clear, no one on this team is alleging fraud or malfeasance, as we have not seen any credible evidence of that. However, the new law Governor Murphy and state Democrats rushed to enact led to this disjointed and excruciatingly slow vote counting process.”

“We still have vote-by-mail outstanding and approximately 70,000 provisional ballots to be counted,” Sheridan continued. “At this time, we do not expect the provisional vote count to end with Jack Ciattarelli in the lead. However, that count may reduce the margin for Governor Murphy enough to warrant a full recount. We will make the decision to pursue a recount based on all of the facts, which includes that this is the first time New Jersey is conducting an election under the new law, using new technology and vote counting procedures.”

Adding to Sheridan’s statement, Ciattarelli campaign strategist Chris Russell took a bruising swing against Murphy’s performance in the deep-blue state.

“We understand that Governor Murphy and his team are embarrassed that in a state with 1 million more registered Democrats and where Joe Biden won by 16 points, they are leading by a much smaller margin,” Russell said. “But the Murphy campaign’s attempt to spin their lackluster performance will have no impact on our decision.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)