Phil Murphy, who took office in January after eight years of Republican Chris Christie, has been riding a wave of anti-Trump fervor and was elected last year by a double-digit margin. | Getty Images Murphy plans to lead Democrats’ fight for GOP-held House seats in New Jersey

NEWARK — Gov. Phil Murphy says he can help Democrats take back the House this fall and is ready to personally intervene in competitive races in his state — even ones where his liberal politics might not fit the districts.

Murphy, in his longest and most wide-ranging interview since taking office, told POLITICO Monday that he plans to be involved in all five House races where Democrats hope to take Republican seats in New Jersey. He said he’ll show up in the swing districts even as he pushes a liberal agenda that includes raising taxes, legalizing marijuana and boosting the minimum wage to $15 per hour — positions that his predecessor, Republican Chris Christie, opposed.


The governor, who took office in January after eight years of Republican Gov. Chris Christie, has been riding a wave of anti-Trump fervor and was elected last year by a double-digit margin. He said he’s confident his presence alone will benefit — and not hurt — Democrats running for Congress, including five districts that could go from red to blue in November.

“There’s nowhere in the state I won’t go,” Murphy, who is closing out his first 100 days in office this week, said from his office in Newark. “I recognize, in some cases, you’re going to be better received than others.”

The governor also said he plans to use his chops as the former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee to raise money for his state party. While the New Jersey Democratic State Committee is not in terrible shape, Murphy said he wants to ensure it isn’t neglected in the way DNC was said to have been under President Barack Obama.

“Having a strong, well-funded state party is a big deal for me,” said Murphy, a former ambassador to Germany under Obama. “I’m a huge fan of Barack Obama, but one of the realities when he was president [was] the DNC kind of lost its way in terms of funding and muscularity. We don’t want that to happen.”

Democrats are in a strong position in New Jersey, where President Donald Trump lost by 13 points in 2016 and his approval rating stands at 34 percent. The party is also gaining an early financial edge, with upstart candidates outraising well-established Republicans. The retirements of Republican Reps. Frank LoBiondo and Rodney Frelinghuysen have put those seats in greater jeopardy for the GOP.

Three other long-time incumbent Republicans will be fighting aggressively to defend their seats: Reps. Leonard Lance, Tom MacArthur and, most notably, Chris Smith, who has been in office since 1981.

There’s even talk of a potential Democratic sweep of every congressional race, an unlikely but not impossible outcome that would give Democrats control of the state’s dozen House seats. A Monmouth University poll released last week showed such a scenario was not off the table, as Democrats have a 19-point generic ballot advantage over Republicans statewide.

Still, Murphy has a middling 44 percent statewide approval rating, and his involvement could be more harmful than helpful on the campaign trail, according to Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

“Murphy campaigning would muddy the waters,” Murray said. “He’s basically an unknown commodity. If I was a Democrat running in any of these competitive races, I would not want to confuse national issues with state issues.”

The governor, who said he won’t get involved in the election until after the June primary, said he knows the risks and is ready to jump in anyway.

“I’m not shying away from going places,” Murphy said.

Murphy, and the state party, readily admits beating Smith — and maybe some other Republicans — is not going to be easy, if it can be done at all. They’re certainly not banking on a sweep.

Smith is considered New Jersey’s safest incumbent. In 2016, he won reelection by 30 points. And MacArthur, a two-term incumbent who is Trump‘s biggest supporter in the state’s delegation, won reelection by 20 points in his swing district, though it was against an unfunded Democrat with no support from the state or national Democratic Party.

“I honestly think it’s a stretch, but I do think [a sweep is] a possibility,” said John Currie, chairman of the Democratic State Committee. “But a lot of things would have to fall in place.”

Murphy also isn’t getting his hopes up, saying such an outcome “would be hard” and “my gut tells me that’s got to be one of these sort of wave elections.”

“Chris Smith has been there for 38 years. Some of these are harder than others,” Murphy said of the competitive races.

But, he said, “this is the craziest political environment I can ever remember, so it’s possible there’s a way.”