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Yesterday’s election of Republican Christie as New Jersey’s next governor has put the state’s battle over same-sex marriage on the front-burner of LGBT activists, as they gear up to get a marriage equality bill passed by year’s end.

Christie has said that he favors the state’s current law, which allows civil unions, but that he’d veto a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Corzine, meanwhile, has pledged to sign such a bill. Last year, the state’s Civil Union Review Commission found that same-sex couples can’t achieve equality under the state’s current civil union law and that New Jersey should allow the couples to marry.

Hudson Diversity Action Council president Walt Boraczek tells JCI that the strategy of the state’s LGBT activists had always been to push for the bill’s passage during the legislature’s lame-duck session (the time period between yesterday’s election and the end of the year), but that Christie’s election makes the effort all the more urgent.

“It’s all hands on deck,” he says. “It’s especially important to get it passed because we have a sitting governor who we know will sign it and a elected governor who we fear will not sign it.”

Boraczek’s group and its allies around the state are working quickly to pass the bill, with 11 emergency planning meetings scheduled for tonight and tomorrow around the state. In Jersey City, Hudson Diversity Action Council, JCLGO and Hudson Pride Connections are hosting a meeting tonight at Temple Beth-El (2419 Kennedy Blvd.) at 7 pm.

“We believe we have the votes to pass the bill” Boraczek says. “We would have had a better shot if the election had gone differently, but i still think we have a good shot.”

As the groups mount a full-on push to convince state legislators that there is “significant support” for the bill, Boraczek will be focused on Jersey City’s representatives in the 31st, 32nd and 33rd Districts. He believes most of them will support marriage equality.

“I think the vast majority are going to be in favor,” he says, adding that “one or two that may require some convincing.”

Specifically, he says he sees “an uphill challenge with Nick Sacco,” who represents the 32nd District as a state Senator. “We hope he can come to see what’s best for his constituency … rather than voting his own personal belief.”