Republican Christopher Christie defeated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine by 86,714 votes statewide, according to the final count released this week by the state Division of Elections.  Christie's plurality was a bit less than the 100,000 votes reported on election night, but his victory was decisive in a state that had not voted Republican in a dozen years.  Christie's margin ranks 11th among winners of the 16 gubernatorial elections held under the current State Constitution.

The closest State Assembly race in the state came in District 4, where Republican Domenick DiCicco won an open seat by 601 votes.  DiCicco won the seat of a Democratic legislator who did not seek re-election.  In eighty Assembly races, no incumbents were defeated and only one seat changed parties.

Margins of victories for gubernatorial candidates:

1. Thomas Kean (R), 1985: 794,229
2. Brendan Byrne (D), 1973: 721,378
3. Jim Florio (D), 1989: 541,384
4. William Cahill (R), 1969: 500,902
5. Richard Hughes (D), 1965: 363,572
6. James E. McGreevey (D), 2001: 328,679
7. Brendan Byrne (D), 1977: 295,648
8. Jon Corzine (D), 2005: 239,258
9. Robert Meyner (D), 1957: 203,809
10. Robert Meyner (D), 1953: 153,920
11. Christopher Christie (R), 2009: 86,714
12. Alfred Driscoll (R), 1949: 75,860
13. Richard Hughes (D), 1961: 34,920
14. Christie Whitman (R), 1993: 26,093
15. Christie Whitman (R), 1997: 25,426
16. Thomas Kean (R), 1981: 1,797