the race for the state's next Governor is still two years away but in New Jersey politics it's never too early to jump in Jersey City mayor Steve fullup today officially announcing his bid for the Democratic nomination confirming what most political insiders long assumed the announcement came packaged in a highly produced video leaning heavily on Phillips military service the 46-year-old has led Jersey City for the last decade and cut his teeth as a councilman there for eight years prior to that Philip will likely face a crowded field of democrats vying for the job his early campaign launch could help him raise money and the name recognition that will be needed to win senior political correspondent David Cruz spoke with the mayor this morning just after formally entering the race Stephen fullup had a jam-packed morning just a couple of hours before this ribbon cutting for a new public safety building in the city the mayor released a video making official what most everyone had assumed and I believe leadership is about standing up for what you believe in even when it's not popular and then fighting successfully to get it done now I'm running for governor to bring that same energy and fight to Trenton two big announcements in one day was the mayor over feeding the news cycle well I got you all here right you know um the uh Philip is going to need that sense of humor if he's going to successfully Traverse the sometimes treacherous waters on the way to the Governor's job you may remember back in 2016 Philip was all set to announce a run for governor when he got bigfooted by this guy what's the biggest difference between this effort and the one that got short-circuited by the other millionaire from Goldman South last time I didn't declare that's a big difference okay let's start there secondly you know look I I've made clear there's no fallback position I'm all in on this and part of today's announcement is to further move that message forward you know last time I was a first term mayor I think I've grown a lot in the last eight years full up is the first Democrat to declare his candidacy but he knows he won't be the only one members of Congress Mikey Cheryl and Josh gottheimer have been frequently mentioned as candidates then there's former Senate President Steve Sweeney current assembly speaker Craig Coughlin and Newark mayor rasparaka why is he announcing so early is he trying to discourage others or what no I think he's trying to distinguish himself this is potentially going to be a large field and a diverse field and so first in may have some value um you have extra time to get out and around the state um you explicitly have the ability to counter offer your take on state policy decisions that are going on now so I think he sees an opportunity to almost provide a campaign that's a shadow governor for the next couple years and and I think it's I think it's a not only is I think it's smart strategy but I also think that it's potentially a useful role for um New Jersey to have that voice for the next couple years and it's not like he doesn't have a record to run on Jersey City is one of the hottest cities in the state Philip calls it the economic engine of New Jersey with development that has now extended beyond the so-called Gold Coast Waterfront he's spearheading a new Hackensack River Waterfront development that will be 35 percent affordable housing and he's Diversified the police force back Civilian Complaint review boards and criticized the recent elections transparency act still he's got detractors who criticize his style his perceived lacklust Outreach to the black community and even his soft criticism of Hit and Run council member Amy De geese and says another potential gubernatorial candidate he's a liberal Democrat we've seen Democrats go far left and this is not a far left State I can tell you that full up is not the most popular guy in the world the question is are we as Republicans going to give them a reasonable alternative to far left policies this state's always been in the middle and to me it's just a question of us as Republicans proving to people that they can trust us in charge of government then there's the whole Hudson County thing Hudson's had more Mayors go to jail than they've had become governor and while he came on the scene as a reformer critics say Philip is now a major Cog in the Hudson County Democratic machine um I guess maybe one thing that he'll have to contend with is that it's been 83 years since we've had a governor from Hudson County um and so it's been a little bit of a curse and uh maybe you know I mean if you're in Hudson you'd probably say we're overdue what I'm trying to do is organize and I need time to do that so you know I'm committed to doing this whether the political structure in New Jersey is with me or not with me and in order to do that effectively it takes a lot of time the last Governor from Hudson if you're curious was a Harry Moore a fellow Democrat who also went on to serve in the United States Senate but one step at a time 2025 is still two years away and that's a lot of time to build momentum and maybe some name recognition if need be I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news [Music]