PORTLAND, MAINE – On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy will become chairman of the National Governors Association (NGA), an organization linking the country’s 55 state and territorial governors in a loose coalition. Murphy is the first New Jerseyan in history to chair the NGA, which was founded in 1908 and which is holding its annual summer meeting this week in Portland, Maine.
Unlike most other national political roles, the position of NGA chair doesn’t come with any obvious responsibilities that might be noticed by most Americans. Each of the country’s governors leads their own state in their own way, making the NGA an interesting hybrid organization whose power is dependent on the governor leading it.
“It’s really what you make of it,” Murphy advisor Mahen Gunaratna said. “Governor Murphy will be a pretty active chair, and he’ll want to mobilize governors of both parties on issues of mutual concern.”
The role is a resolutely bipartisan one, and Murphy will only hold it for one year before handing it off to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican (NGA chairs alternate by party). But in that year, Murphy will have the opportunity to wield power in both formal and informal ways, and make himself into a national figure more than ever before.
Formal powers
The official role of the NGA chair is essentially to serve as the ambassador for the country’s governors, who have different politics and priorities but (presumably) share the desire to govern their states effectively and hold good relationships with the federal government.
During the NGA’s annual winter meeting, at which governors meet directly with the president about national and state issues, the NGA chair is the chief representative of the assembled governors. Outgoing chairman Asa Hutchinson, the Republican governor of Arkansas, led this year’s meeting, and Murphy will lead the next meeting in winter 2023.
NGA chairs also choose an initiative that they will highlight during their terms. Sometimes they’re specific, like Hutchinson’s endeavor to increase K-12 computer science education, the results of which he’ll highlight at this week’s meeting; other times they’re more vague, like former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s 2014 focus on “Delivering Results.”
Murphy will announce his own yearlong initiative later this week, once he officially takes the reins of the NGA.
Informal influence
Being the designated representative of the country’s governors also comes with national sway and stature, something that can be hard to achieve for governors.
Murphy, who has only ever held state-level office, now has a national perch from which he can do two key things: advocate on behalf of New Jersey’s interests, and promote New Jersey’s values to the rest of the country.
In the last year especially, Murphy has tailored his messaging to portray New Jersey as a state where liberal ideology and responsible government can coexist. He’s not alone in doing so; California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, among others, have also drawn attention for their focus on effective progressivism.
Murphy will also assume the chairmanship of the Democratic Governors Association, a campaign organization that Murphy previously led in 2020, early next year. It will be the first time in history that a governor has served as chair of the NGA and their party’s association simultaneously.
During his yearlong term, the DGA will work to retain Democratic governorships in Kentucky and Louisiana and defeat Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in Mississippi. This last job may potentially be an awkward task for Murphy, who will also be representing Reeves as NGA chairman for part of that same period.
Nevertheless, the two overlapping roles provide Murphy with an unprecedented opportunity to promote his vision for New Jersey – and for America.
A presence on the national stage
With that national stage comes political chatter of the highest order: does Murphy have presidential ambitions?
As President Joe Biden struggles in polls, that’s a question pundits and strategists have been asking about pretty much every sentient Democrat. And given that Congress has been paralyzed on many key issues, it’s governors like Murphy – and Newsom, and Whitmer, and Pritzker – who may be increasingly appealing in 2024 or beyond.
The fact that Murphy is about to assume a significant national role, then, gives him that much more of a leg up. The two Democratic governors who have made serious bids for the presidency in recent decades, Bill Clinton and Howard Dean, both served as NGA chairmen before launching their presidential campaigns.
Of course, the fact that Murphy will spend the next year and a half holding at least one national leadership role may also have some negative consequences at home. Though term limits mean he won’t have to face another gubernatorial election, his national duties could fray relationships and slow governance in New Jersey.
But the opportunities presented by the chairmanship that Murphy will assume on Friday are likely greater than the pitfalls. What remains to be seen is if Murphy, and his team, are able to fully capitalize on them.
