Gov. Phil Murphy returned home to New Jersey Tuesday — after a five-day economic mission trip to the United Kingdom that was filled with non-stop meetings.
Time for a break? Hardly. On Thursday, he is headed to Denver, for a National Governors Association meeting for new governors.
It all begs the question: Why? As in why not coast through your final year in office — an idea that certainly may be more inviting after the disastrous presidential election for his party last week?
Murphy said he’s not cut out that way.
“I expect to be going at the same speed at the end as I was at the beginning,” he said from Heathrow Airport in London before boarding an afternoon flight to Newark. “One of my objectives, is that if someone were to extract years seven and eight and assess the accomplishments that created tracks for future success, I would hope they would not be able to discern where in the eight years, those two years were.
“I’m as committed to that as I have ever been.”
The commitment showed during the week.
Murphy is at his best internationally — mainly because he feels the state is at its best.
“We do sell really well internationally,” he said. “There’s just no two ways about that.”
That’s if you tell the whole story, Murphy said.
“We’re a state which, whether we like it or not, does not come cheap,” he said. “But the good news is you get a lot back for what you pay. Obviously, we do everything we can to remain competitive. And so far, knocking on wood, we’ve been able to do that.
“But we sell really well internationally. There’s no question about that. I don’t think you can say that about every American state.”
Murphy’s sales pitch always come with hard truths — such as the cost of doing business. On this trip, he earned praised for offering hard truths about the election.
“I only got the sense because people said it to me after a couple of meetings, which is a little bit sobering, because you’d think that everybody would speak straight,” he said.
On this trip, he said, it was as important as ever.
“First, you had the election,” he started. “I feel strongly that I owe it to people to be honest with them about what it meant and what it didn’t.
“Secondly, I also think you get more credibility if you’re pitching New Jersey, if you say what we’re not, what we’re not as strong in.”
Where will he say that next? Murphy wouldn’t say, but he didn’t shy away from the fact that trips to the Middle East and Latin America are on a wish list.
Why, he said, became evident in London.
“The notion that an Abraham accords mission could yield a lot of positive results for New Jersey was evident after a private dinner,” he said. “So, that’s something we’re kicking the tires on. No news to make on that, but that’s something we’ve talked about, and I walked away after several hours with a group of folks feeling more emboldened about that.”
He arrives home with a few takeaways from this trip:
- The tech ecosystem in London is stronger than he thought;
- The magic in Cambridge (the broader innovation ecosystem) is more intentional than he had expected;
- New Jersey should have come to the UK earlier in his term.
“We had some very quick, very productive meetings,” he said. “And I leave with the same takeaway as we had in Canada (in September): What took us so long to get there.
“That’s on my shoulders – but better than never, that’s for sure.”
