Dustin Racioppi

State House Bureau, @dracioppi

The 2017 governor's race is in a crucial opening phase, where money and organizational support traditionally indicate how the June primary will shape up. But with the 2016 presidential election barely in the rearview mirror, some of the gubernatorial hopefuls are looking to build on the outsider momentum that brought Donald Trump to the White House into this year's contest to succeed Gov. Chris Christie.

In addition to coverage through the primary to the general election, The Record and NorthJersey.com will offer updates on the state of the governor's race in all forms - the policies, the politics and any of the other factors that come into play. Here's a look at where the race is now.

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Who's running?

DEMOCRATS: Paul Binetti, Bill Brennan, Monica Brinson, Jim Johnson, Ray Lesniak, Phil Murphy, Titus Pierce, John Wisniewski, Mark Zinna.

REPUBLICANS: Jack Ciattarelli, Kim Guadagno, Steven Rogers, Joseph Rullo, Hirsh Singh

INDEPENDENTS: Seth Kaper-Dale, Karese Laguerre, Jon Lancelot, Mike Price

Money

Democratic front-runner Phil Murphy loaned his campaign $10 million when he announced his candidacy last year. No one in either party has come close to matching him financially. Jim Johnson, the little-known former undersecretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton, has been the biggest fundraiser and was the first - and so far only - candidate to qualify for the state's matching funds program, which gives $2 for every $1 raised.

The $752,548 Johnson got matched by the state is a significant sum, but it pales in comparison to Murphy, representing 7.5 percent of what the former banker and diplomat has poured into his campaign from his own pockets.

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, a Republican, says she has also met the $430,000 threshold to qualify for matching funds, and the Election Law Enforcement Commission is reviewing her donations as part of its normal process before approving a candidate.

Sen. Ray Lesniak said he has struggled to raise the money needed to meet the threshold, and said "it's going to be close." He had originally planned on running a $6 million campaign. "I maybe have to cut that back to a $4 million" campaign, he said.

Another Democrat, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, last reported having $190,000 in his matching funds account. But his campaign manager, Robert Becker, said "we're going to hit that threshold" for matching funds. On Tuesday night, Wisniewski's campaign said it had submitted $450,000 in contributions to the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission for review to qualify for matching funds.

The campaign of Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican Assemblyman from Somerset County, was also optimistic about its financial outlook.

"We expect to qualify for matching funds and secure endorsements in several big counties in the next three weeks," campaign spokesman Rick Rosenberg said.

Endorsements

On the Democratic side, Murphy has secured the endorsements of 12 of the 21 party county organizations, giving him the preferred position on the primary ballot - the so-called county line. He is expected to get all the county lines, giving him an advantage over his opponents.

Wisniewski and Lesniak, two longtime Trenton lawmakers who have served as chairmen of the state Democratic committee, are seeking to knock off Murphy by going directly to voters with a message that they are outsiders against Murphy's machine of money and establishment support.

Johnson is taking a similar approach.

Derek Roseman, a spokesman for Murphy, said the campaign earned the endorsements fairly. "We are confident because we have taken the time to talk with Democrats in every county, to earn their trust, built from the grassroots up."

Guadagno has so far gotten the endorsements of party organizations in 10 counties - Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Hudson, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem and Warren. Ciattarelli has earned three, in his home county of Somerset, as well as in Burlington and Mercer. He expects to secure endorsements in "several big counties" over the next few weeks, Rosenberg said. Like the Democrats challenging Murphy's machine of support, Ciattarelli is staking his campaign on succeeding without the county bosses.

The Christie factor

For Democrats, Christie is the hobgoblin of the State House who will likely serve as their target from here to November. It's more complicated for Republicans, and especially Guadagno, since Christie has become such an unpopular figure with voters, according to polls.

Christie, who is the head of the state's Republican Party, recently acknowledged the tension that his presence could create should he endorse and campaign for Guadagno. But he said he will remain neutral until the primary filing deadline in April, then assess the field and "decide for myself whether it's right for me to get involved in all this." He said that decision will be made as the head of the party, "not because of any particular relationships that I have with any of the candidates."

He said his goal is to have a Republican succeed him and he has "every expectation that I will endorse and campaign for the Republican nominee for governor in 2017." But should Christie endorse Guadagno, he has said he would have to decide "whether I want to be that deeply involved even if I'm prepared to vote for the lieutenant governor and whether that's really in her best political interest as she attempts to distinguish herself and lay out her own plan and program for what she would do if she were elected governor."

Ricky Diaz, a spokesman for Guadagno, said "We welcome all endorsements, including the governor’s."

What to watch

It's time for the candidates to boost their profiles with voters. A January Rutgers-Eagleton Poll said the candidates were "mostly unknown," although Guadagno and Murphy had the most name recognition. Soon news outlets will begin profiling the candidates, in some cases introducing them to the electorate. Murphy has been advertising for months, and Johnson recently unveiled a new television ad that aired during a "Saturday Night Live" commercial break.

Although money and county support are considered crucial for candidates, ultimately it's the voters who decide who wins or loses. Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University, said to expect "bio piece after bio piece" to start appearing in publications. It is time for candidates to tell voters, "this is who I am, this is what I bring to the table - and trying to raise that name ID and get people to recognize how they define themselves," Hale said.