TRENTON -- New Jersey is one of only two states in the country with a governor's race this year. And the contest will ultimately decide who succeeds Chris Christie, the nationally known incumbent whose approval ratings among voters sit at historic lows.

Even without such fanfare, election years when the governor's seat tops the ballot are usually high profile for Garden State residents who know that governors have a lot of say over their lives.

But this race has surprisingly been starving for attention, largely because of one man: Donald Trump.

"Trump is taking up all the oxygen," Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said of the highly scrutinized Republican president. "Whatever issues there might be get swallowed up in the media by the latest trials and tribulations emanating from Washington."

And don't forget: That often involves Christie, too.

With only about three weeks to go before voters cast ballots in the primary elections to determine who will win the Democratic and Republican nominations, polls show many people haven't made up their minds on whom to vote for and don't know much about the top candidates.

It's not that cpolitics aren't alive in New Jersey right now.

Speculation has abounded over whether Christie, a longtime Trump friend and adviser, will land a high-profile job in the president's administration. Christie has also drawn attention by being chosen by the president to lead a federal commission on opioid abuse. And the governor is often asked to weigh in on the latest Trump controversy.

The fight over health care has also hit home.

Residents who often don't pay much mind to their local members of Congress have flocked to town halls hosted by U.S. Reps. Leonard Lance and Tom MacArthur to angrily voice concern about the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.

That has left little room for the governor's race, even though there are 11 major-party candidates running in the June 6 primaries for their parties' nominations to take over for Christie, a Republican in his final year.

"I think it's both surprising and alarming," said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University. "In years past, New Jersey gubernatorial elections have been the focus of national media coverage. And we haven't seen that this year."

"I think Trump is squeezing the air out of the gubernatorial tire," Harrison added.

Krista Jenkins, director of Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Poll, agreed.

"It's such an atypical time right now," Jenkins said. "And at the same time, I think local politics is often something people struggle to follow."

Harrison noted how the first Democratic and Republican debates took place Tuesday night -- right as news broke that Trump fired James Comey as FBI director.

"Looking at the Twitter feeds of people I know, there was so much more attention being paid to firing of Comey than to the debate," she said. "This was one of two primary debates for one of only two gubernatorial races in the country. But it was in the background because of Comey."

Part of the problem is that for all of the candidates, some see a lack of competition.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy is leading the Democratic race by double digits in recent opinion polls.

He has also loaned his campaign $15.1 million from the wealth he amassed partially based on the 23 years he spent as an executive at Wall Street banking firm Goldman Sachs. And he has spent $18.4 million so far -- four times more than the 10 other major-party candidates combined.

In addition, Murphy is supported by hordes of Democratic officials and labor leaders across the state, and earned the endorsement of all 21 county party organizations, giving him top-of-the-ballot placement in the primary in each county.

His opponents -- especially the three contenders behind him in the polls, former U.S. Treasury official Jim Johnson, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, and state Assemblyman John Wisniewski -- have tried to portray him as someone trying to buy the Democratic nomination and whose banking ties betray his progressive agenda.

But Murphy is widely seen as the clear favorite for the nod, as well as the general election.

There's more competition on the Republican side, where polls show Guadagno leading but state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli gaining steam.

Even there, though, experts say many primary voters see Guadagno as likely to win.

"I think people look at it as: The outcome is already pretty much assured," said Carl Golden, who was the press secretary for former Govs. Tom Kean and Christie Whitman. "People historically don't get terribly excited over picking party-backed or party-supported candidates."

Still, the race is expected to heat up after the primaries are over and there are only two major-party candidates left leading up to the Nov. 7 general election.

But the president may also be partly to thank for that, as well.

"This (election) will be the first big test of Trump's coattails," said Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University.

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