In many ways, Gov. Phil Murphy hewed to tradition in his first State of the State speech on Tuesday.

He took a victory lap. He vowed to work with Republicans from across the aisle. And Murphy sounded optimistic about the state's future.

Yet Murphy also offered clues to how he intends to govern in the coming year in the face of an assertive and sometimes resistant Democratic Party leadership that runs the Legislature. And he took some thinly veiled partisan shots. Here are five takeaways from Murphy's 50-minute speech.

Still seething at Stephen Sweeney

Despite the diplomatic overtures in the speech, Murphy made it clear right from the outset that his ongoing power struggle with Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, is alive and simmering.

Murphy began with a lengthy attack on the program designed to retain and attract corporations with tax incentives. A scathing state comptroller's audit last week said the Economic Development Authority failed to hold companies accountable for the jobs and investments they promised. As much as $11 billion in taxpayer dollars may have flowed into a "black hole,'' Murphy said.

For many observers, Murphy's emphasis on such an arcane program at the beginning of a big-vision speech was a less-than-subtle shot at Sweeney who overhauled the program with other South Jersey Democrats. Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed the overhaul into law in 2013.

Among the biggest beneficiaries were companies in Camden, the home base of South Jersey Democratic leader George E. Norcross III, Sweeney's longtime friend and political benefactor. Murphy seemed to take an oblique shot at the Sweeney-Norcross-Christie relationship, which dominated the state agenda from 2010 to 2017.

"The audit revealed bad policy, badly run — a program more likely to have been drawn up in a smoke-filled backroom than created for New Jersey’s future," Murphy said in his speech.

Sweeney took umbrage at Murphy's criticism of the program.

"Nothing in that report said the program was bad. It was enforcement that they needed in the agency,'' Sweeney said. He also suggested Murphy's $11 billion figure was way overblown and said only about $1 billion had been distributed.

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Burnishing the liberal brand

Observers have noted that the "pro-growth progressive" platform Murphy campaigned on in 2017 was out of step with the more centrist, suburban electorate, despite his 13-point win. Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, made that point last June by successfully rebuffing much of his ambitious first budget.

But with liberal activists lining the Assembly gallery Tuesday, Murphy, the former Goldman Sachs executive, doubled down on the progressive branding, recycling populist tropes like "crony capitalism" and vowing to fix "a system that has been rigged to work for a favored few."

Murphy also touched on income equality and vowed to shape an agenda focused on "education, infrastructure, and diversity and inclusion." He repeatedly drew sharp contrasts to his predecessor, Christie, with the intent of appearing as a sunny, more focused alternative to his unpopular, conservative predecessor.

In some ways, it had the feel of a campaign speech from an earlier, less complicated time when Murphy faced no real competitive challenge from his Republican rival and the Democratic Party was unified behind his campaign.

Silent about possible tax hikes

Murphy sent Trenton into a frenzy last month when he suggested he might push for more tax hikes this year. The idea was quickly shot down by Sweeney and Coughlin,

But he made no reference to any possible tax hikes on Tuesday and was careful to avoid the term even when talking about last's year modest hike on incomes of $5 million or higher — a far cry from a much broader "millionaires' tax" he originally proposed.

But Murphy may be saving that plan for his budget address in March.

Sensitivity about property taxes

Murphy was criticized last year for giving lip service to property tax relief in his first budget. But he seemed to answer his critics Tuesday, noting that the statewide average in property taxes had the lowest increase last year, mainly, he said, due to hundreds of million in school aid approved under his first budget.

Observers note that there is no clear way to link increased school aid to a yearly decline in property taxes, and Republicans on Tuesday attributed the lower rates to cost controls enacted under the Christie administration.

Immigrant driver's licenses still a priority

Murphy made a big push for allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.

"Twelve states, as varied as Delaware and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, have already done so,'' he said. "All they’ve seen is an increase in the number of licensed and insured drivers, safer roads, and lower auto insurance premiums. Let’s do the same here."

Many Democratic lawmakers stood to cheer Murphy, but it's unlikely that the Legislature will take up the measure anytime soon. All 80 seats of the Assembly are up for grabs in November, and Coughlin, who is leading the Democratic re-election effort, is not eager to schedule a vote on a controversial measure before the election.