At the 2016 Princeton Community Democratic Organization annual picnic, a pair of activists approached Phil Murphy with an unconventional idea: A public bank for New Jersey.

Murphy, a longtime banker with Goldman Sachs, heard the activists out. Then, when he announced his platform for his gubernatorial run later that year, it included a plank for a public bank, a commercial bank owned by the state that would take deposits from the state and from municipalities, and lend in-state.