× Chris Christie deputy, ex-Goldman Sachs executive win primaries in N.J. gubernatorial race

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Voters on Tuesday chose a wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive and Republican Gov. To no one’s surprise, the l0w-profile New Jersey gubernatorial primaries were won by the front-running Establishment candidates, Democrat Phil Murphy (a former ambassador to Germany and CEO of Goldman Sachs) and Republican Kim Guadagno (two-term Lieutenant Governor and heir apparent to current Governor Chris Christie) on Tuesday. “My principles are Main Street principles.”

Democrats are favored in the 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. The winners in Tuesday's primaries will compete in the Nov. 7 general election in one of just two statewide gubernatorial contests in the country this year, along with Virginia, and the first since Republican President Donald Trump took office. Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno leads a pack of five Republican candidates in Tuesday's primary election, while Phil Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany under former President Barack Obama, is the front-runner among six Democrats. “But what the candidates talk about is Mr. Trump and Mr. Corzine, probably not the concerns of most New Jerseyans.”

Murphy, a Middletown resident who served as Barack Obama’s ambassador to Germany after chairing the Democratic National Committee’s finance arm, loaned his campaign more than $16 million. (1) Guadagno’s mentor Christie is profoundly unpopular in New Jersey; (2) this is a generally Democratic state that only occasionally elects Republican governors; and (3) the party that controls the White House has lost the last six governor’s races in New Jersey. Murphy faces challenges from former Teaneck firefighter Bill Brennan, one-time Clinton administration Treasury official Jim Johnson, state Sen. Ray Lesniak, Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Tenafly Councilman Mark Zinna. The term-limited Republican governor said Wednesday at an event at St. Barnabas Medical Center Livingston that he doesn't believe the public cares whether he endorsed Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno speaks during a Republican gubernatorial primary debate in Newark, N.J. New Jersey voters are heading to the polls to pick their candidates to ...

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File).
American voters in the state of New Jersey select party candidates to succeed term-limited incumbent Republican Chris Christie. Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Kim Guadagno win nominations their parties' nominations.