Four months after he fended them off in a crowded, often fiery election for the party's nomination, Democratic nominee for governor Phil Murphy on Thursday rolled out the endorsements of all five of his primary opponents.

Murphy's campaign sent out a news release touting that retired Teaneck firefighter Bill Brennan, former U.S. Treasury official Jim Johnson, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, state Assemblyman John Wisnieski, and Tenafly Council President Mark Zinna were all formally supporters.

"Phil Murphy is the best candidate to lead us forward," Johnson said.

"One thing is crystal clear -- we cannot allow a third term for Chris Christie's policies in New Jersey," Wisniewski added in reference to Murphy's opponent, Republican nominee Kim Guadagno, the lieutenant governor under outgoing governor Chris Christie. "We must elect Phil Murphy to get our state back and moving in the right direction."

"New Jersey needs a governor who will focus on protecting our environment, and Phil's strong policy proposals prove his commitment," Lesniak said.

Brennan called Murphy "a man who listens, who is always thinking, and who keeps his word" and said he will be "a welcome change in Trenton" after Christie.

Zinna added that Murphy "knows we can do more to give taxpayers the value they need in their communities."

It's common for primary opponents to back the eventual nominee. But it's more common for them to do it directly after the primary as a show of unity -- not with six weeks to go before the Nov. 7 Election Day.

The endorsements came as an emailed news release, not with a splashy news conference.

And the comments the former opponents made were in stark contrast to the remarks they made on the campaign trail, when they took aim at how much money Murphy -- a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and ex-Goldman Sachs banking executive -- had donated to the party over the years and how much he was spending on his own campaign. Many accused him of buying the nomination, which Murphy routinely denied.

But Democrats are also trying to win back the governor's office after eight years of Christie, a Republican who is saddled with the lowest approval ratings of any governor in New Jersey history.