Murphy: Democrats ‘famously lousy’ on messaging, but ‘we got there’

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) on Wednesday lauded Democrat wins during Tuesday’s midterm elections, saying the party saw success despite being “famously lousy” on collective messaging.

“Our party is quite famously lousy on a coherent, specific message. I think we got there,” Murphy told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press: Election Results Special.” 

After much speculation that Republicans would win big in the midterms, the anticipated “red wave” failed to materialize and Democrats delivered in some key races. As of Thursday, two days after the election, it’s still unclear which party will take congressional control in either chamber.

“The good news is we have a substantive story to tell when you look at the historic bills that were passed in Congress and signed and led by the president. So we had a substantive story, we finally told that story,” Murphy said Wednesday. 

The New Jersey governor also cited the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade as a “latent issue” that was “in the back of folks’ mind and impacted a lot of decisions,” helping give Democrats a boost. 

“I think thirdly, the democracy craziness finally took hold. And listen, crime is out there. The Republicans played that card really well. It feels like they do it every couple of years. But they didn’t play the card that says, ‘What are we going to do about it?’ nearly as well. And I think records sort of won out on that basis,” Murphy said.