Gov. Phil Murphy is scheduled to visit San Francisco early next week to become head of the Democratic Governors Association, a national job that calls for him to raise money, strategize, and travel to help members of his party win governors races in nearly a dozen states across the country next year.

Sound familiar?

It’s a similar position to the one his predecessor in New Jersey, former Gov. Chris Christie, held in 2014, when he trekked tens of thousands of miles as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Christie visited 36 states, personally campaigning and raising unprecedented amounts of cash for the group, and that helped him cement key relationships within the national GOP and launch his bid for the presidency, which ultimately failed.

It also meant Christie spent all or part of 148 days away from the state he was elected to govern — which, along with the fallout of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, helped plunge his job approval ratings among Jerseyans to record lows.

But as he prepares to take over as DGA chair on Tuesday, Murphy insists his tenure will be different than Christie’s RGA term.

"It’s pretty clear, with hindsight, that was about him,” Murphy said during an interview Wednesday with NJ Advance Media. “And for me, this is about Jersey.”

For Murphy, a former Wall Street executive who’s relatively low-key — certainly more low-key than Christie — the chairmanship could raise his profile, thrusting him into a pivotal role as the Democratic Party attempts to oust Republican President Donald Trump in 2020.

The main goal is capturing governor’s seats across the map, especially in battleground states like North Carolina. But Murphy will also have a chance to push his progressive — and frequently anti-Trump — message beyond deep-blue Jersey.

“Governors have never mattered more,” Murphy said. “That’s not just in the governing but in the political reality. It’s a big year.”

Still, most New Jerseyans may wonder: Exactly how does this help the Garden State, a place with the nation’s highest property taxes, ballooning pension deficits, and a troubled transportation system?

Murphy said there’s a key difference between him and Christie in this regard: “I’m not running for president.”

“Secondly, I’m gonna make sure I’m careful on the travel front," Murphy added. "That doesn’t mean there’s no travel. Obviously, there is some. But I want to make sure when I’m getting in a car, a train, or a plane, there’s a good reason for it, and New Jersey will benefit.”

Murphy said he intends to spread the word about the policies he’s been trying to institute in the Garden State and forge stronger relationships with other states. That, he said, includes possibly forming new coalitions with other governors to help fight back against Trump — like he’s done with rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to battle climate change, helping form a gun-control alliance with northeastern states, and filing multi-state lawsuits to preserve the popular SALT property-tax deduction that the president capped.

“It gets our story out, we can learn from other states more easily, and we can find common ground and coalitions more easily,” he said of the job.

Still, the role might seem risky for Murphy, who has lukewarm approval ratings in the 40s at home and has often clashed with his fellow Democrats who lead the state Legislature.

Christie’s time as RGA chair not only hurt his poll ratings in Jersey but gave his critics a cudgel they used frequently. Could the same happen with Murphy?

“It depends on how he uses it,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth Polling Institute, recently told NJ Advance Media.

“If you’re out of state, you’ve got to do it quietly,” Murray said. “You do it in a way that raises your profile a little bit publicly, but more importantly connects you to key players within the party across the country, and you can do that without significant events and conspicuous travel that Chris Christie did.”

Murphy isn’t a stranger to national Democratic politics. He raised millions for candidates as finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2006-09. And that led President Barack Obama to tap him as U.S. ambassador to Germany, a job Murphy held from 2009-13. He also served as the DGA’s vice-chair over the last year.

But this time, he’ll be more visible.

In all, 11 states have governor’s races next year (Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia), as well as two U.S. territories (American Samoa and Puerto Rico).

Of the Democrats running, only three are incumbents: Washington’s Jay Inslee, Delaware’s John Carney, and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper. The rest Democrats are hoping to flip.

The Cooper race is especially challenging because North Carolina could be a state Trump wins. Meanwhile, the race for Montana’s open governor’s seat will likely be close.

But Murphy noted that Democrats have gone from holding 15 governor’s seats — a record low — to 24 over the last three election cycles.

“There will be no place on that map that we’ll fear going," Murphy said. "We’re gonna be competitive on a broad map.”

Murphy is also taking over the DGA at a time when the national Democratic Party is split between two ever-splintering factions: a more traditional, moderate wing and a more liberal, progressive wing.

Murphy belongs to the latter, which puts him at odds with some Democrats on some issues. But he isn’t worried about that.

“My job is to get incumbents re-elected and challengers re-elected,” Murphy said. “We’re the big tent party. We’re not always gonna agree.”

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

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