new york race succeed republican new jersey governor chris christie get way week former goldman sachs executive enter ring first democratic contender succeed christie whose popularity slump phil murphy former goldman sachs executive u.s. ambassador germany never hold elect office seek democratic nomination gubernatorial election november 2017. christie eligible run third term governorship 2009 beat one-term democrat jon corzine also formerly goldman sachs group inc. murphy serve u.s. ambassador germany 2013 say would focus issue equal pay women high minimum wage legislative initiatives christie either already veto expect veto time governor back promise murphy 58 campaign ad release monday marry father four live middletown retire 2006 23 years wall street investment bank political observers say possible candidates include democrats state senate president stephen sweeney jersey city mayor steven fulop republicans assembly minority leader jon bramnick state senate minority leader tom kean jr lieutenant governor kim guadagno christie see approval rat fall fresh low recent weeks tarnish bridgegate scandal criticize no-show leader preoccupy first presidential campaign fail role top adviser presumptive republican nominee donald trump approval rat terrible low keep go leave unpopular say julian zelizer professor political history princeton university poll new jersey voters last month show 31 percent approve 63 percent disapprove christie performance governor say john weingart associate director eagleton institute politics voters likely seek candidate different christie zelizer say particularly transparency right state finance look someone antithetical someone trust someone devote state someone seem clean immune scandal zelizer say want governor bring new kinds industry new pocket growth new jersey governor 's race open christie 's approval slump