On Saturday, July 1st, New Jersey Governor Christie implemented a state government shutdown. The New Jersey Government shutdown is the first of its kind in over ten years. The shutdown came about as the legislature failed to reach an agreement on a new budget. The shutdown closes non-essential government services such as State parks and DMVs. The failure to reach an agreement came about due to Christie’s insistence and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto’s subsequent refusal to include reform of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, New Jersey’s largest health insurer, in the bill.
While Christie has attempted to blame the shutdown on Prieto, even going so far as to put posters blaming him in front of various abandoned government buildings, it is likely that the shutdown will be come back to hurt the already unpopular governor. While his time in office is almost over anyway, his party is struggling to hold on to the Governor's office. It is possible that the shutdown will come back to hurt Republican candidate Kim Guadagno in the Gubernatorial election in November, given that Democrats are already considered to be the political favorites this year. Polls are favoring the Democratic candidate Phil Murphy, with a Quinnipiac poll from May putting Murphy ahead of Kim Guadagno by a margin of 50 to 25 percent. The possibility of the shutdown hurting Guadagno is further enhanced by the fact that she has served as Christie's Lt Governor.