Former state Senate President Stephen Sweeney on Monday formally launched a campaign for New Jersey governor, a long-awaited move as the Democrat aims for a big political comeback after losing his powerful seat in a shocking upset two years ago.
Sweeney, a 64-year-old South Jersey ironworkers union leader who spent 20 years in the Senate, enters the 2025 Democratic primary for the party’s nomination to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
“Sometimes in life, you face setbacks,” Sweeney said in a video announcement, which NJ Advance Media first reported Monday morning before he released it on social media. “But New Jerseyans get up, we dust ourselves off, we get back to work, because that’s who we are. I will always put New Jersey’s kids, working families, and seniors first. You know that’s who I’ll fight for because that’s who I’ve always fought for.”
“That’s who I am: a fighter for those who can’t fight for themselves. I’m running for governor because New Jersey is worth fighting for.”
Sweeney is already the second major gubernatorial candidate to declare a campaign, even though the primary isn’t for another year and a half. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop was the first, announcing his bid for the Democratic nod in April. Others are expected to jump in.
The longest-serving Senate president in Garden State history, Sweeney will now vie for the state’s highest office after being ousted from his legislative seat in 2021. He fell to Ed Durr, a virtually unknown Republican truck driver, in a stunning loss that made national headlines.
But Sweeney, a self-described moderate Democrat, has mulled a gubernatorial run for years. Even after his loss, he insisted his political career wasn’t over and hinted for months that a bid for governor was still in the cards. He also created a policy think tank at Rowan University.
The fact Sweeney will now face Fulop in the June 2025 Democratic primary is notable. The pair — dubbed “the two Steves” by some pundits and insiders — were expected to run against each other for governor in 2017 for the party’s nomination to succeed Republican Chris Christie. But they each ultimately decided not to run once Murphy, a former Wall Street executive and U.S. diplomat with deep pockets, secured endorsements from party leaders across the state and emerged as the surprise frontrunner.
Now, Sweeney and Fulop will be among those vying to take over for Murphy, who will leave office in January 2026.
They likely won’t be alone, though. The Democratic primary could be a crowded one, with a number of others considered possible contenders: U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, current state Senate President Nick Scutari, state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, state Sen. Paul Sarlo, Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, former Assemblyman John Wisniewski, and former U.S. Treasury Official Jim Johnson. None have announced a campaign yet.
In Monday’s video, Sweeney recalled his years as a union ironworker, “constructing buildings around New Jersey.” He noted friends and colleagues might have seen him as a “tough guy.”
Sweeney then recounted how his world was turned “upside down” when his daughter Lauren was born with Down syndrome. He said learning how difficult it is to get services for residents with special needs inspired him to enter politics. He was elected to Gloucester County’s freeholder board in 1997 and the state Senate in 2001.
“Lauren was the spark,” Sweeney said. “She brought out the very best in me. ... Everyone deserves a shot at dignity, respect, and a job.”
As Senate president from 2010-22, Sweeney was the second-most powerful elected state-level official in New Jersey for 12 years, after the governor, choosing which bills came up for a vote in Trenton and helping decide what was included in the state budget.
In his video, Sweeney highlights the state during his tenure increased the minimum wage and installed paid family leave. He also noted how the state codified legal same-sex marriage — though he first voted against it in 2010, a move he called the “biggest mistake” of his political career. All are progressive policies that would play well in a Democratic primary.
Despite those policies, Sweeney sometimes clashed with the openly progressive Murphy and other left-leaning members of the party, taking more cautious stances on issues such as a millionaire’s tax, though he eventually forged a deal to install one. Sweeney later faced criticism from some Republicans who accused him of not publicly challenging Murphy enough during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sweeney’s video does not mention two of the most notable parts of his resume: a revamping of the state’s school funding formula and overhaul of its public-worker pension system.
The latter was one of several issues Sweeney worked on in bipartisan alliance with Christie, saying the move was needed to stabilize the oft-troubled system despite strong backlash from public-sector unions. He and Christie helped restructure higher education and enact policy to boost Camden, as well.
Sweeney is also a longtime friend and ally of George Norcross, the powerful Democratic powerbroker from Camden.
In the video, Sweeney said there is “much more to do” in the state. He suggested his platform will include revamping New Jersey’s notorious tax system and pushing for a referendum to ask voters to formally enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution — the latter of which Democratic leaders decided against last year.
“If you want to, you should be able to work with dignity, buy a home, raise a family, and retire all in New Jersey,” Sweeney said. “We need a tax system that works for New Jersey families and retirees, not big corporations, a first-class education system from pre-K to 12, and a constitutional amendment to protect a woman’s reproductive freedom.”
The dynamics in New Jersey politics have shifted since Sweeney was at the height of his power. His was one of several seats in the state Legislature that South Jersey Democrats lost in 2021, helping party leaders in Central and North Jersey consolidate power in recent years. South Jersey Democrats, however, did win back a number of seats last month, including knocking Durr out of Sweeney’s old district.
Sweeney is now banking the slew of other Democratic candidates for governor will split support in the northern half of the state while he sews up his power base in South Jersey en route to the Democratic nod.
Fulop cracked a joke last week when word broke that Sweeney was prepping an announcement.
“I think we both share the sentiment (and are hopeful) that no random millionaires show up this time,” the Jersey City mayor wrote on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
Fulop also wrote he doesn’t “underestimate the fact that there is pathway” for Sweeney.
In a phone interview Monday, Fulop said Sweeney joining the race is a “good thing for New Jersey residents” because it gives them a choice, noting there is a “big contrast” between the two candidates when it comes to their geographic base, experience, and policy differences.
“This will foster a good conversation,” he said. “I was getting a little stir crazy talking to myself for the last couple months.”
Fulop noted Sweeney is in a “more conservative lane” and cut deals with Christie “I would not have been supportive of.” He also argued Jersey City was the first place to do some of the things” Sweeney spoke of achieving in his video and said “being an executive, very, very different from being a legislator.”
Hours after he announced his campaign Monday, Sweeney received his first endorsement — from the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents more than 15,000 workers in New Jersey.
“Steve Sweeney is the quintessential champion of union labor and working families in the State of New Jersey,” said William C. Sproule, the union’s executive secretary-treasurer.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll from February showed Sweeney had the second-most name recognition among possible Democratic gubernatorial candidates, after First Lady Tammy Murphy, who is now running for U.S. Senate next year. The survey also found Sweeney was the most polarizing of the group, with almost the same percentage of Democrats who like him (19%) and don’t like him (16%).
On the Republican side, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli said he plans to run for governor again after falling to Murphy in a closer-than-expected race in 2021. Among the other potential GOP primary contenders are radio personality Bill Spadea, state Sens. Jon Bramnick, Declan O’Scanlon, Holly Schepisi, Doug Steinhardt, and Mike Testa, former state Sen. Kevin O’Toole, and pastor Phil Rizzo.
Stories by Brent Johnson
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.
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