Why don't New Jersey governors advance politically nationally?

[Tekken_Guy]

Why don't Tennessee governors advance politically nationally?  or Washington?  or Michigan?  or Arizona?  or South Carolina?  et cetera, et cetera

In our current media context, governors just aren't high-profile enough to be immediate contenders for national office (the only states excepted from this rule are CA, NY, TX and FL, which all have +20M people).  A small state governor (like Bill Clinton was in 1992) would have almost no chance of winning the nomination in today's 24-hour cable news and social media-driven environment.

So, I don't think this is a New Jersey issue.  You could ask this question about governors from countless other states as well. 

A South Carolina governor becoming a national star? That’ll never happen.

[Suburbia]

Why don't Tennessee governors advance politically nationally?  or Washington?  or Michigan?  or Arizona?  or South Carolina?  et cetera, et cetera

In our current media context, governors just aren't high-profile enough to be immediate contenders for national office (the only states excepted from this rule are CA, NY, TX and FL, which all have +20M people).  A small state governor (like Bill Clinton was in 1992) would have almost no chance of winning the nomination in today's 24-hour cable news and social media-driven environment.

So, I don't think this is a New Jersey issue.  You could ask this question about governors from countless other states as well. 

A South Carolina governor becoming a national star? That’ll never happen.

No Nikki Haley? Bakari Sellers?

[Roll Roons]

Why don't Tennessee governors advance politically nationally?  or Washington?  or Michigan?  or Arizona?  or South Carolina?  et cetera, et cetera

In our current media context, governors just aren't high-profile enough to be immediate contenders for national office (the only states excepted from this rule are CA, NY, TX and FL, which all have +20M people).  A small state governor (like Bill Clinton was in 1992) would have almost no chance of winning the nomination in today's 24-hour cable news and social media-driven environment.

So, I don't think this is a New Jersey issue.  You could ask this question about governors from countless other states as well. 

A South Carolina governor becoming a national star? That’ll never happen.

No Nikki Haley? Bakari Sellers?

Evidently you don't get sarcasm. Tekken is obviously referring to Haley.

[Mike Thick]

Think we’re just working with a minuscule sample size here. Like, not a lot of governors of any state have become President. Not a lot of people have become President! That’s not to dismiss the points made by other posters, but there have only been 45 people elected President ever, from a pool of thousands of Senators, Governors, Congressmen, Generals, and Cabinet Secretaries. Not too many more, relatively speaking, have been major-party nominees or even come close.

I think the answer is just that you have to be exceptionally talented and exceptionally lucky to get anywhere nationally. The odds of any given politician meeting those criteria are very low, and it seems in line with those odds that almost no one would advance out of the tiny historical pool that is Governors of New Jersey. One candidate (Christie) having a solid shot at the nom over a period of a few decades is probably about average performance for a state of NJ’s size, or any state at all.

[Suburbia]

A lot of what's been said is true, but another big reason is that the state is damn near ungovernable and its governors often have no record to run nationally on for reasons completely outside of their control:

-The voters are too economically moderate for Democrats to enact their banner issues, and too socially moderate/downright socially liberal for Republicans to enact their banner issues.

-The interests of the northern part of the state are often at odds with the southern part of the state. The two regions (more specifically, the voters in the two regions) actually have very little in common both politically and socioeconomically. It can often feel like two different states with Central NJ being a strange purgatory-like mix of both.

-I've harped about this on these boards before, but political bosses (specifically George Norcross) still have massive pull over state politics here, and governors often have to spend massive political capital fighting them, or ceding power to them. These bosses do a great job slowing down legislation that is otherwise broadly popular - just look at Murphy's slogs to raise the minimum wage and legalize weed. Needless to say, these bosses and their interests don't play well with the grassroots of either party and would be a headache during a Presidential run.

-This isn't caused by any systemic or pre-existing problems/quirks with the state's politics, but many of NJ's recent governors have just been awful politicians. And many of the good ones (or at least good at the time, like Christie in 2012) simply became national-tier at the wrong time and missed their window.

That's why a inner city pro-life white man like Bret Schundler couldn't have won statewide, because he was too-pro life.

Christie is pro-life, NJ Dems control the Legislature, and pro-life policies would never see the light of day.

[Ferguson97]

I honestly think most of it is just timing/circumstance.

Working backward...

Phil Murphy was elected in 2017, and is probably smart enough to know he wouldn't do well in a crowded primary like this. Plus he's old and "stuffy".

Chris Christie ran, but did poorly.

Jon Corzine was unpopular after his first term and lost re-election.

Richard Codey was never elected (became Governor after Whitman resigned).

Jim McGreevey had that whole scandal, and probably figured an openly gay man couldn't win at the time.

Donald DiFrancesco was again, unelected. (Whitman resigning caused a bunch of weird "Acting Governor" scenarios)

Christine Whitman probably could've done it, but I don't think she could've won a GOP primary as a woman.

James Florio ran for the Senate and lost, so there was the baggage.

Thomas Kean absolutely could've ran and won IMO.

Brendan Byrne absolutely could've ran and won as well.