Philip D. Murphy took the oath of office for a second term as New Jersey’s 56th governor on January 18, 2022. He was the first Democratic governor in New Jersey to serve a second term in 44 years.

Governor Murphy currently serves as chair of the National Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association, the first governor to lead both organizations simultaneously.

Since taking office in 2018, Governor Murphy has focused on making New Jersey more affordable. Under his leadership, New Jersey has made strides in growing the state’s economy and creating new economic opportunity while shrinking longstanding inequities, expanding critical investments, and delivering real tax fairness and historic property tax relief, including 18 tax cuts for New Jersey’s middle class and seniors.

New Jersey’s reputation for fiscal responsibility has been restored under Governor Murphy’s leadership, leading to three credit rating upgrades in 2022 alone, after eleven downgrades during the prior administration. The governor’s budgets have made the state’s full pension payments for three consecutive years, for the first time in decades, and established historic budget surpluses to insulate the state from economic uncertainty.

Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, New Jersey has emerged as a leader in protecting reproductive health and freedom. He has enacted the most comprehensive set of gun safety laws in the nation to combat gun violence. Governor Murphy secured a $15-per-hour minimum wage and guaranteed earned sick days for workers and expanded paid family leave. He has also embraced policies that have driven down the cost of health care and made child care more affordable.

The governor has expanded protections for the state’s immigrant and LGBTQIA+ communities, and he has enacted initiatives to provide a tuition-free public college education for qualified students.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Murphy guided New Jersey to being a model state for following the highest level of public health standards and data-driven response, implementing among the nation’s most robust vaccination efforts, and fostering a strong economic recovery. The Murphy Administration provided billions of dollars in state and federal relief to small businesses, schools, homeowners, tenants and landlords, and middle-class families.

Governor Murphy has also reformed New Jersey’s economic climate to be welcoming to both established high-tech enterprises and start-up companies in the innovation economy. In January 2021, he enacted a new set of state economic incentives that focused on promoting the growth of new small businesses and innovative startups, enacting the state’s first tax credit for historic preservation, and expanding tax credits for brownfields reclamation and redevelopment, among other initiatives.

The Governor has also focused on making New Jersey a leading location for film, television, and digital production, driving new investment in the state.

New Jersey has also emerged as a leader in the deployment of clean energy technologies, including one of the nation’s most-aggressive proposals for the development of offshore wind. He helped break ground at both the Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County and the South Jersey Wind Port in Salem County, where more than 1,500 new jobs will help secure New Jersey’s place as a global leader in offshore wind component manufacturing and logistics.

Governor Murphy has also made New Jersey a model state for social justice through fostering the state’s nascent adult-use cannabis industry, enacting among the country’s strongest automatic voter registration measures, restoring voting rights to individuals on parole or probation, expunging the records of numerous non-violent offenders, and creating the nation’s strongest provisions for environmental justice, alongside numerous other new laws. He has also put a focus on eliminating stigma and promoting a compassionate approach to tackling both the mental health and opioid crises.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Murphy guided New Jersey to being a model state for following the highest level of public health standards and data-driven response, implementing among the nation’s most robust vaccination efforts, and fostering a strong economic recovery. The Murphy Administration provided billions of dollars in state and federal relief to small businesses, schools, homeowners, tenants and landlords, and middle-class families.

Career Prior to Becoming Governor

From 2009 until 2013, Governor Murphy served as the United States Ambassador to The Federal Republic of Germany, appointed by President Obama.

Governor Murphy has been deeply engaged in civic life and philanthropic pursuits. In 2002, he began his involvement with 180 Turning Lives Around, a Monmouth County women’s shelter where he ultimately served as board president from 2005 until 2009. That experience led the Governor and First Lady to found the teen helpline 2nd Floor.

Additionally, Governor Murphy was a member of the Board of Directors of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a non-profit organization which works with local community development associations to transform urban neighborhoods across the country, from 2002 until 2009.

In 2005, he chaired the New Jersey Benefits Review Task Force. He also co-chaired, with former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and the late Professor Roger Wilkins, a national task force on public education in the 21st Century for the Center for American Progress.

In 2006, he was appointed National Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee by Chairman and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. During his tenure, which ran until 2009, Democrats recaptured both houses of Congress, and his efforts helped build the infrastructure that elected President Obama in 2008.

In 2014, Governor and Mrs. Murphy founded New Start New Jersey, a ​“think-and-do tank” dedicated to seeking new policy directions to grow New Jersey’s economy and middle class. The Murphys partnered with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University to create the New Start Career Network, which specifically helps long-term unemployed New Jerseyans over age 45 get back into the workforce.

From June 2015 until March 2017, Governor Murphy served proudly on the national Board of the NAACP.

In December 2018, Governor Murphy was named one of four honorees of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award from the nonprofit organization run by the family of the late Sen. Kennedy for his efforts to ensure social justice and equal economic opportunity. Among the other three honorees was former President Barack Obama.

Prior to entering public life, Governor Murphy worked for over twenty years at Goldman Sachs, starting as an intern in 1982 and ending in 2003 as a member of the firm’s management committee. During his business career, he led offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and Hong Kong.

Family Life

The youngest of four children of the late Walter F. Murphy, Sr. and Dorothy Murphy, Governor Murphy was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 16, 1957, and was raised in both Newton and nearby Needham, Massachusetts.

The Governor is a graduate of Needham High School, Harvard University, and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been awarded numerous honorary degrees.

Governor Murphy and his wife, Tammy Snyder Murphy, reside in Middletown, Monmouth County, and are the parents of four adult children: Josh, Emma, Charlie, and Sam.