Christie Easily Wins Second Term

Chris Christie, the former U.S. Attorney who won the governor's race in 2009 and was lauded for his response to Superstorm Sandy, easily won re-election Tuesday.

In what may be one of the least surprising election results in state history, Christie handily defeated his Democratic challenger, State Senator Barbara Buono, to win his second term at the helm of the Garden State.

As late results came in, Christie was hovering around a 22-point lead over Buono.

"How about this, New Jersey?'' Christie said to an overflow crowd at Convention Hall in Asbury Park. "Tonight, I stand here as your governor and I am so proud.''

Christie said his last four years proved that you could hold onto principles and still get the job done and took a jab at gridlock in Washington D.C.

"If we can do this in Trenton, New Jersey, maybe those people in Washington D.C. should turn on their TVs right now,'' Christie said.

Christie talked about the spirit of Superstorm Sandy, and the closeness people in the affected areas showed one another in the days that followed. 

"I promise you that I will govern with the spirit of Sandy,'' he said.

Christie, as he has in numerous campaign speeches leading up to Tuesday, said Superstorm Sandy had changed his vocation from a job to a mission.

"And that mission is to make sure that everyone, everyone, who was affected by Sandy is returned to their homes,'' Christie said. "And I will not let anyone, any thing ... or any force get between me and the completion of my mission.''

Christie took another swipe at the federal government's recent gridlock and took a veiled lunge in the direction of a possible presidential bid in 2016 when he referred to "dispirited America, angry with the dysfunction in Washington,'' that is looking toward New Jersey for answers on how to work together to solve common problems.

"Under this government, our first job is to get the job done and as long as I’m governor that job will always, always, always be finished," Christie said.

In her concession speech, Buono slammed members of her party Tuesday after losing the race to the Republican incumbent, according to The Huffington Post.

Buono praised supporters who "withstood the onslaught of betrayal from our own political party."

"The Democratic political bosses, some elected and some not, made a deal with this governor," she said, according to NorthJersey.com. "They didn’t do it for the state. They did it out of a desire to help themselves."

The contest between Buono and Christie never really was much of a race.

Despite New Jersey’s distinctly blue hue, Republican Christie has remained a popular governor, attracting scores of independent voters and stealing the votes of some Democrats.

Buono was never able to gain enough traction to bring herself within a car length of Christie’s double digit lead, let alone pass him, even in a state with about 400,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

Buono's campaign focused on issues such as lowering the cost of higher education, greater access to health care for low-income women, gun control and same-sex marriage, which became legal in the state earlier this month.

Buono was keenly aware of Christie's possible presidential ambitions, and seemed to strike at least some pay-dirt making an issue out of it, touting herself as the only candidate running for governor, while Christie was focused on the White House.

But as New Jersey voters prepared to head to the polls, the Quinnipiac polling institute on Monday showed Christie with the same two-to-one lead over Buono that he started with months ago.

Monday’s poll showed Christie with a 64 to 29 percent lead with independent voters and a 30 percent lead among Democrats.

Widely believed to be gearing up for a 2016 presidential bid, Christie has been troublesome for some hard-line Republicans, a trend that could continue should he officially toss his hat into the ring for a White House run.

He has been criticized for appearing with President Obama following Superstorm Sandy and last month Christie decided to drop an appeal of the state Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages.