ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — Governor Phil Murphy addressed more than one thousand grassroots activists and party leaders at the New Jersey Democratic State Committee Faith in the Democratic Party Breakfast on Friday morning. Below are the prepared remarks from Governor Murphy embargoed until 9:00 a.m.:

Good morning, New Jersey Democrats!

Let me begin by thanking you for joining us here in Atlantic City. This is two days for us to energize ourselves for the final push to the finish line.I also have to give a real shout-out to our party chairman, the one and only John Currie. John has been a true leader in our party for a long time.He helped bring us together for victory in 2017, and, under him, we’re poised for an equally great 2018. Our future is strong, and John is such a huge reason why. He’s a good friend, and he deserves our thanks!

When we leave here later today, there will only be 45 days remaining until one of the most pivotal elections in our lifetimes. We’ve heard ourselves saying that for a while now. We had hoped that the last most-pivotal election would have been 2016. But, because that didn’t turn out the way we had hoped — and, to be honest, the way too many of our fellow Democrats had taken for granted — we are faced with what the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “fierce urgency of now.” And, if we meet this urgency, New Jersey will lead the blue wave that will rush across this country on November 6.

Let there be no doubt … America’s road back from Donald Trump begins here, it begins now, and it begins with each of us. There is an urgency to save the Affordable Care Act, to protect the rights of our immigrant families and Dreamers … to preserve the ability of our middle class to save more on their taxes … to protect the Supreme Court from an extreme ideology … and to keep our Jersey Shore safe from Donald Trump’s desire to drill for oil, among so much more. There is an urgency to protect our New Jersey values.

And, as I have traveled across New Jersey over the past several months, I sense more and more of our fellow residents feeling this urgency. I sense it in the work of our great Congressional delegation,led by Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, to push back against the harmful and dangerous policies coming from President Trump’s White House — and pushed by his lapdog Republican allies — that put our state and our values in their crosshairs.

I see it in North Jersey, where Mikie Sherrill stands poised to be our next Congresswoman.

I see it in Central Jersey, where Tom Malinowski is on the verge of bringing a refreshing new viewpoint to Washington, and where Josh Welle is making a strong case for upending one of the most conservative voices in the House. I see it in South Jersey, where Andy Kim is in a race to defeat Donald Trump’s lone New Jersey soldier, and where Jeff Van Drew will turn our Southern tip blue.

And, today, I see it in this room. This is the Democratic Party. This is New Jersey’s Democratic Party. Faith leaders, community activists, grassroots leaders, union members, seniors, millennials, elected officials. Look around. This room is as broad and diverse as our state. I certainly wish President Trump were here so we could tell him, “Mr. President, this is what the United States of America actually looks like.”

The humorist Will Rogers once famously joked, “I belong to no organized party, I’m a Democrat.” And, yes, we are a big and boisterous family. But, we are tied by two unbreakable bonds — our belief in New Jersey and our belief in the Democratic Party as the vehicle to protect the rights and freedoms, and hopes and dreams, of all nine million of our fellow residents.

Some have quietly, in their own way, become the moral leaders of our party. I think of Laura Wooten, of Lawrenceville, who for over 70 years has worked the polls, promoting freedom and democracy, year after year. She hasn’t stopped and neither will we. It is not an accident that we have her in our great state. Laura, we are honored to be in your presence.

Others are just starting on their paths of leadership.

With us today is Elijah Langford, from right here in Atlantic City, who is leading civic and charitable works designed to ensure that young people are involved and engaged in voter registration and voter education. Go, DemCats, go!

And, I think of the Edison Municipal Chairman, Shariq Ahmad, a Muslim-American who is working every day to expand our party in one of our most diverse and fastest-growing communities.

These are just a few examples of the thousands of people in our party from around this state who tirelessly give of themselves to make a better New Jersey. They don’t want awards or accolades.

They just want us to win. Many of you are on the front lines in supporting the values of our party.

Our party is stronger because of the work each of you does, whether it is registering new voters, knocking on doors, or even just giving that one extra person a ride to the polls. We must ensure that the New Jersey Democratic Party is not a party of insiders — rather that it remains this coalition of progressive ideals nurtured from the ground up.

Whether it is the leaders in our faith communities who want to ensure social and economic equality and justice in their communities … The members of organized labor working to ensure good jobs at good wages and benefits for their fellow workers … Seniors who want to ensure access to affordable health care for their friends and neighbors … Community activists starting a petition to protect voter rights, or to ensure our immigrant neighbors are treated with respect and dignity … Millennials looking to make New Jersey an affordable place to live, or start a family, or start a business … The cop or the firefighter who wants to know that they have the tools they need to protect and serve, and a stronger relationship with their community to get their jobs done … Or, the educator who is fighting for more respect and better funding so they can reach every child in their classroom …

These are the people the Democratic Party stands for and fights for. The ideals of a party matter. And our ideal is that we are one New Jersey family –all nine million of us — and we do not succeed unless we all succeed. No matter how hard President Trump tries to divide us.

During our campaign for Governor, our grassroots operation was one of the best in the country.

We traveled the state and organized in every community, from the reddest of the red to the bluest of blue — we refused to take anything, anyone, or anywhere for granted. We knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors, and made hundreds of thousands more phone calls.

We knew that you cannot change minds unless you actually reach out and talk with people. We listened to the faith leaders who told us the truths of life in their communities. We listened to the union members who wanted to be treated with respect again. We listened to our over 400,000 military veterans. We listened to young people, the LGBTQ community, women — and, in particular, African American women — and everyone who wanted to know that we would be here

to fight for them, and not take them for granted.

And, in doing so, we connected with people, knocked down and discouraged, by what they were seeing from Washington, and what they experienced in New Jersey from the prior administration.

They found in our optimism, their hope for a better future. And, don’t you know it, they volunteered their time to help us. And, together, we won. This was our greatest reminder that we New Jerseyans are resilient and tough. That when we fall, we get back up. That when a neighbor is hurting, we give them a helping hand. We reminded people that the ideals of our party are the ideals of New Jersey.

And, every day, we are reminding them that we not only told them our ideas, but that our party had listened to theirs.

It’s why we started with the most diverse cabinet in the history of this state, and perhaps our nation. It is why we have been able to enact the strongest equal pay law in the entire country.

It’s why we were able to restore funding for Planned Parenthood and women’s health. It’s why we took the lead, among all states, in protecting the Affordable Care Act. It’s why we enacted automatic voter registration, and are making it easier for all people to vote. It’s why we proudly strengthened our gun laws. It’s why we fought for and won paid sick leave for every New Jerseyan. It’s why we took the shackles off our medical marijuana program. It’s why we fought so hard for tax fairness in our budget.

And, it’s why we’re leading the fight against Donald Trump’s tax scheme that is ripping the heart out of our middle class to give more to the very wealthiest. It’s why we banned drilling for fossil fuels off the Jersey Shore …supported a ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin … are bringing the promise of solar energy to underserved communities … and are poised to be the world leader in offshore wind. It’s why we gave our Dreamers access to in-state tuition assistance. It’s why New Jersey joined with our like-minded partners to beat President Trump in federal court to protect the rights of our Dreamers. It’s why we will legalize adult use marijuana and ensure social justice in the process, and why we will put New Jersey on a path to a $15 per hour minimum wage.

Someone once called me a pro-growth progressive. I’ll take that!

We will continue to grow this economy and make it fair for all New Jersey families. We will prove that we cannot have social progress without economic progress, and we cannot have economic progress without social progress. By the way, none of these efforts should come as a surprise to anyone. We are governing as we promised, and fighting to implement the agenda we ran on.

This is where we find ourselves today, in Atlantic City, 45 days before a critical election.

And, I know this, we are just beginning to hit our stride.

My brothers and sisters, together we started a movement. A progressive movement that puts people first. A progressive movement that listens to people and acts decisively to put their words into action. We must continue to do things differently. People are tired of seeing politicians come around only when they need something. That is why you see me on the road talking to people.

I didn’t get here because of some back door deal. I got here because we — all of us — connected through our shared values and our desire for new ideas to usher in an age of prosperity and hope in our state. And, these bonds are stronger today than even a year ago.

This is why Mikie Sherrill and Tom Malinowski and Andy Kim and Josh Welle and Jeff Van Drew will all win on November 6.

It’s why we will re-elect Senator Bob Menendez and the rest of our great Democratic delegation.

It’s why we will win the special elections for the Legislature, and why we will flip more county and local governments.

This energy is why we are here today. This is why we want you to have faith in the Democratic Party. We are not a perfect party, to be sure, but we are an inclusive party that always seeks to better itself.

Unlike the other side, we do not require unquestioned allegiance to personalities or put forward loyalty tests. We don’t think of white supremacists as “very fine people”.

And, we always remember that “progress” is at the base of what it means to be progressive.

Progress that builds a New Jersey which is stronger and fairer. Progress which builds a New Jersey that works for every family. Progress that uses our diversity to our greatest benefit and progress which lifts every community. Progress which remembers that, for all our faults, America is already great, but can be made greater.

Donald Trump’s America is based on something entirely different.

It’s based on breaking our American Family into “us” and “them” – and even telling some members of our family that they just don’t belong. It’s based on this misguided idea that in order for someone to get ahead, someone else must be left behind. It’s based on no discernable value system except the politics of narcissism.

This is why I am proud to be a New Jersey Democrat.

I believe in the Democratic Party not because we are perfect but because we hold true to our ideals. These are the ideals that were instilled in me as a child by a family that had nothing but love for each other and a desire to see the next generation do better than the last.

These are the values which I saw displayed through the likes of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, Dr. King, and Cesar Chavez, among so many other of our heroes.

And, yes, they are the American values which, for eight years, were put on display with grace, humor, and strength by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

This is the rich history of our party, and it is a history we must ensure continues to be written. This is why we will continue to welcome all voices and peoples, and to prove we are as good as our progressive ideals.

We will continue to build our party from the ground up. We will continue to organize. We will continue to recruit. And, above all, we will continue to support unity over division.

As I said, this is a pivotal election in our history. The soul of our state and nation are at stake.

This is not a time for the faint of heart. Donald Trump wants nothing more than for us to fail.

We cannot — and will not — give him that satisfaction.

I have faith in you and our shared ideas to see this through to the finish line, and then, to keep running. This isn’t just about 2018, after all. It’s not even about 2020. It’s about every day, every week, every month, and every year that will come after this. We must fight back now against turning back the clock. We have neither the time to fear nor the time for fear.

Because this is a breakfast of faith, I leave you with words from Second Timothy, Chapter 1, Verse 7:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

This is the spirit of New Jersey. And, this is the spirit of the Democratic Party. Thank you, all, for all that you have done and will continue to do. Let’s leave this place united in our mission. And, let us never lose the faith.

God Bless you all!