This year, SPIA in NJ embarked on a project to unpack the question: what is a government transition? Students, faculty, and staff held roundtables and discussions to better understand this unique political process that is fundamental to American democracy.
The project was inspired by New Jersey’s own gubernatorial transition, a 78-day endeavor to effectively transition the reins of New Jersey state government from former Governor Phil Murphy’s administration to the new Mikie Sherrill administration. This undertaking engaged policy experts, government officials, community leaders, and stakeholders committed to helping transform campaign promises into actionable governing principles.
SPIA in NJ was lucky to kick off its transition project with two veterans of the Sherrill gubernatorial transition team: SPIA’s own Professors Kathryn Edin and Heather Howard. Professor Edin, a leading poverty and child wellbeing researcher jointly appointed to Princeton’s SPIA and Sociology departments, co-chaired Sherrill’s “Kids Mental Health and Online Safety” action team. Professor Howard, a former Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and a Professor of the Practice at SPIA, co-chaired Sherrill’s “Affordable Healthcare: Addressing Washington’s Medicaid Cuts” action team with Chiquita Brooks-LaSure ‘96, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Professors Edin and Howard provided their insights to students in an off-the-record discussion about New Jersey’s gubernatorial transition moderated by SPIA MPA ‘27 Andrew Libraty. They touched on their goals, their day-to-day work on the teams, and the lessons they gleaned from their experience. In response to requests from students who had missed the first event, SPIA in NJ hosted a subsequent session over lunch with Professor Howard.
In a final installment in the series SPIA students benefitted from the insights and lessons learned from another transition veteran, one with experience at both the state and the federal level: SPIA alumnus Richard Bagger ‘82. A longtime New Jersey and national Republican official, Bagger served as former Governor Chris Christie’s first Chief of Staff and later as Executive Director of the Trump-Pence transition in 2016. As Mr. Bagger discussed, his tenure at the latter organization ended abruptly during the well-publicized falling-out between then President-elect Trump and former Governor Christie.
Bagger, who teaches a very popular class on the subject of transitions at Rutgers University, helped students frame transitions, classifying them into three types: new governor, same party; new governor, different party; same governor, same party. He promoted the idea that every transition offers an opportunity for a “fresh start” and a reset in personnel, policy, or both. Importantly, Bagger relayed that gubernatorial transitions also serve as a stakeholder exercise, wherein governors-elect can build the political capital they need to advance their agendas. Ultimately, Bagger’s best advice to students seeking to become government leaders was: speak truth to power and “be willing to be fired.”
So, this fundamental question has only grown: What is a transition and how can it be effective?
Through candid conversations with faculty, alumni, and practitioners facilitated by SPIA in NJ, SPIA students are building a richer understanding of this unique and vital political process. With 36 governors launching transitions at the end of 2026, the lessons drawn from New Jersey's recent experience couldn't be more timely.