Incumbent Republican governor Chris Christie ran for re-election to a second term in office.

Christie won the election in a landslide, receiving over 60% of the vote and carrying 19 of the state's 21 counties, with Buono only winning heavily Democratic Hudson and Essex.

[a] Christie became the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win a majority of the vote since Thomas Kean's landslide victory in 1985.

Cumberland, Camden, and Union counties voted Republican in a gubernatorial election for the first time since 1985, and Mercer & Passaic since 1993.

[12] Araujo and Boss subsequently filed new petitions to run in the general election as independents.