The first state-sponsored debates for Democrats and Republicans running for New Jersey governor will be held May 9. Leading up to that, NJ Advance Media is profiling the four Democrats and two Republicans who have qualified for those debates, leading off with this simple question: "Why are you running?"

RED BANK -- The year was 2013. Phil Murphy had just finished a four-year stint living overseas as the U.S. ambassador to Germany. And when he and his family returned home to New Jersey, he was shocked by what he found.

The Garden State's newest governor, Republican Chris Christie, was enjoying sky-high approval ratings and was on his way to a landslide re-election victory.

But Murphy, a Democrat, saw that New Jersey was recovering more slowly from the Great Recession than other states and at the time had an unemployment rate higher than the national average.

"I couldn't square it up," said Murphy, a Middletown resident. "If you don't get the economy right, you don't get New Jersey right."

"I thought: This is a state in crisis," he added. "It needs someone with not abstract but real experience, having grown up on the edges of the middle class, and a leader that has the right skills and temperament and background."

Four years later, Murphy is pitching himself as that person.

The 59-year-old former banking executive -- who has never held elected office but has deep political ties and a big wallet -- is the unexpected front-runner for the Democratic nomination to succeed Christie, who is in his final year because of term limits.

NJ STATEHOUSE Dome.jpg.JPG

2017 N.J. GOVERNOR CANDIDATES

PHIL MURPHY

Party affiliation:

Democrat

Age:

59

Residence:

Middletown

Occupation:

Former U.S. ambassador to Germany, former finance chair of the Democratic National Committee, former executive at Wall Street banking firm Goldman Sachs

Family:

Wife Tammy Murphy; four children: Josh, Emma, Charlie, and Sam

And many experts say Murphy is also the odds-on favorite to win the general election, partially because Democrats are well-positioned in the wake of Christie, who carries some of the lowest approval ratings of any New Jersey governor in history.

Murphy is also bolstered by a personal wealth that has allowed him to lend his campaign at least $10 million.

"It's really his race to lose," said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University.

Originally projected as an underdog when he declared his candidacy last May, Murphy began gobbling up endorsements from powerful Democratic county chairmen. And his expected rivals in the race, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, decided not to run.

Now, Murphy -- who portrays himself an "outsider" who doesn't owe anything to the "special interests" in Trenton -- has crucial endorsements from all 21 Democratic county organizations. That gives him top-of-the-ballot placement in each county's primary ballots. Plus, he is supported by a string of Democratic lawmakers and public worker unions.

The most recent poll, released by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday, shows Murphy leading the Democratic primary by double-digits.

But the survey also found 57 percent of New Jersey voters still don't know enough about Murphy to form an opinion and 52 percent of Democratic voters are undecided on whom to support.

Murphy has been battered by his opponents, as well. They take aim at the 23 years he spent as an executive at Wall Street banking firm Goldman Sachs, a popular target in the age of Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump.

They say his donations of more than $1.15 million to Democratic candidates and groups in the state since 2001 is evidence he's buying the nomination and that the primary is being treated like a coronation.

And they compare him unfavorably to unpopular former Gov. Jon Corzine, another former Goldman Sachs exec who spent lots of money on his way to winning the biggest office at the Statehouse.

Murphy brushes aside the critics, arguing that his time at Goldman is just one chapter in his life -- and that it taught him about how jobs are created and how to deal with ratings agencies. It has also informed one of his key proposals: a state-run bank that he says will bolster New Jersey's economy.

"I would also say to folks: Judge me on who I am," Murphy said during an interview at a law firm in Red Bank. "Judge me on the whole book."

The book starts in Massachusetts, where Murphy grew up the youngest of two children in the Boston area. On the campaign trail, he notes repeatedly that his family was "middle class on a good day."

His mom graduated high school, his father did not. Mom worked as a secretary, dad in a number of jobs: paid pallbearer, manager a liquor store, garment factory employee.

They were strict Roman Catholics and big fans of politics. A picture of President John F. Kennedy hung near a photo of the pope in their home.

With little money in the family, Murphy went to work off the books at age 13 as a dishwasher in a coffee shop.

But Murphy got into Harvard and originally harbored thoughts of becoming a musical theater actor. He was even the president of Harvard's famed Hasty Pudding Theatricals club.

"I can sing OK," Murphy said. "But more importantly, I can dance."

Tap dance, to be exact.

A young Phil Murphy (right) awarding actress Candace Bergen the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award in January 1979.

He was also an economics major at the Ivy League school and was then accepted to grad school at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Instead, he took a few years off to make money, selling college text books in the Boston area.

Murphy eventually got his MBA from Wharton. And during the summer of 1982, he worked as an intern on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs.

"I worked long hours, but it turns out it was a decent fit, and it was good money," Murphy said.

In the early 1990s, Murphy moved to Frankfurt, Germany to lead the company's Central Europe operations. In the late 1990s, he moved to Hong Kong to lead the firm's Asian division.

He stresses that he was not a high-risk trader like Corzine.

"I was not in the go-go part of the business -- the part of the business that was really rocking and rolling when times were good and the same part of the business where the roof fell in when times were not good," Murphy said.

Murphy also dismisses the Corzine comparison by noting that Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were both Yankees but are hardly similar.

"Just because you worked for the same company, does that mean you're the same person?" Murphy asked. "Of course not."

Murphy and his family moved from Hong Kong to Middletown in 2000, and he retired in 2006 as a senior director at the firm.

Peter Rose, a former Goldman employee who worked with Murphy in Hong Kong, remembers Murphy as having an "almost relentless amount of energy" and as someone who made decisions by seeking input from everyone on staff. Often, Rose said, Murphy would present his ideas and then ask: "Tell me if I'm wrong."

"He has that characteristic of highly intelligent, successful people: He could never get enough information," said Rose, now a senior adviser at Blackstone.

In 2005, then-Gov. Richard Codey appointed Murphy chair of a task force on New Jersey's pension crisis. One of his recommendations was to sell off public assets, which Corzine proposed but failed to get passed. He also suggested raising the retirement age and base pensions on a longer salary window, both of which were later put into effect.

Murphy then served as finance chair at the Democratic National Committee from 2006 to 2009, when Howard Dean was its chairman. He claims to have raised $300 million for the party.

Along the way, Murphy met Barack Obama, and when Obama became president in 2009, he named Murphy the country's ambassador to Germany.

Murphy called the four-year tenure "an extraordinary experience" that "transformed" him and his family. All of his children were young and still in school at the time.

But Murphy also faced a scandal when WikiLeaks published alleged cables that he and other embassy staff sent to the U.S.

In one, Murphy called German Chancellor Angela Merkel "insecure" and "rarely creative."

Murphy attempted to stem the controversy from the onset. He walked into the German chancellory and explained what happened.

"I said, 'Listen, this is kind of weird, but basically it's the equivalent of: I left my diary on the bus and it's gonna be in the paper tomorrow,'" Murphy remembered.

Some German officials called for him to step down or be removed. But Murphy stayed.

"People ask what was the big lesson from WikiLeaks? It's don't let a crisis drag you along," he said. "Get out ahead of it. And boy, that's painful."

Murphy was mentioned as a possible challenger to Christie in the 2013 gubernatorial race, but didn't run.

Instead, Murphy formed a non-profit think tank, New Start New Jersey, to search for ways to help New Jersey's economy.

He also met with powerful Democrats and hired top-tier political consultants, like Julie Roginsky, famous for her appearances as a Democratic pundit on Fox News.

And he donated more than $466,000 to Democrats contenders and organizations across New Jersey in the last three years.

Murphy shoots down criticism that he was buying support, saying that for much of that time he was focused on policy and was more aggressive raising money for party-building than giving to individual candidates. That money, he said, helped Democrats gain seats in Republican strongholds like Morris, Sussex, and Warren counties.

Political experts also note that unlike Corzine, Murphy is a tireless campaigner, appearing ding multiple public events each week and shaking thousands of hands.

"Murphy has been very active in making sure he is still working like an underdog," said Matt Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University.

Murphy has been married to his wife, Tammy, for 22 years. She's often at his side at campaign events. They have four children: Josh, 19; Emma, 17; Charlie, 15; and Sam, 13.

Murphy's proposed state bank would give some of New Jersey's tax money to community banks for loans for small businesses, small-scale infrastructure projects, and students -- and the profit would then return to the state budget.

On pensions, Murphy plans to "divest from hedge funds and reinvest fees and close tax loopholes to promote fairness."

On property taxes, he plans to fully fund public schools under to the state's current constitutional funding formula to provide aid that offsets property tax increases.

And on marijuana, he believes in legalizing and taxing pot.

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