Philip D. Murphy took the oath of office for a second term as New Jersey’s 56th governor on January 18, 2022. He is the first Democratic governor 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 building a stronger, fairer, and more affordable New Jersey. Under his leadership, New Jersey has made strides in growing the state’s economy and creating new economic opportunity while shrinking longstanding inequities, restoring fiscal responsibility to state government while expanding critical investments, and delivering real tax fairness and relief, including 14 tax cuts for New Jersey’s middle class and seniors.
Governor Murphy guided New Jersey from being the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic to 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. Over the course of two years, the Murphy Administration has provided billions of dollars in state and federal relief to small businesses, schools, homeowners, tenants, and landlords, and middle-class families.
Governor Murphy has put a special emphasis on making New Jersey more 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, focused on promoting the growth of new small businesses and innovative startups, enacting the state’s first tax credits for historic preservation, and expanding credits for brownfields reclamation and redevelopment, among other initiatives.
Under the governor’s leadership, New Jersey has 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 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.
The Governor has also focused on making New Jersey a leading location for film, television, and digital production, enacting a new incentive program that drew more than half-a-billion dollars in investment to New Jersey in 2021.
Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, New Jersey had already emerged as a national leader on a number of nationally significant issues prior to the pandemic. He secured the dignity of working families by moving to a $15-per-hour minimum wage, guaranteeing earned sick days, and expanding paid family leave. The governor has enacted initiatives to provide a tuition-free public college education for qualified students. He has embraced policies that have driven down the cost of healthcare. He has expanded protections for the state’s immigrant and LGBTQIA+ communities. And he has enacted and proposed gun safety laws to combat gun violence and promote responsible gun ownership.
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 opioid misuse.