Christie lost it by only 6,000 votes in 2009. Murphy got more votes there than he did in 2017, but he got less votes in Essex than he did in 2017.
Ciattarelli got more raw votes and vote share in both counties. 2017 had horrific turnout (38.5% Statewide) and just 2.147 Million votes.
Turnout is up this year at 2,556,000.