Two of New Jersey's former governors are making a comeback.
Well, at least their portraits are.
Gov. Phil Murphy pointed out during a news conference Tuesday that paintings of former Govs. Donald DiFrancesco and Richard Codey are now hanging on the wall in his outer office in Trenton.
That hadn't been the case in the final six months of Gov. Chris Christie's tenure.
For years, the governor's outer office was lined with portraits of all the governors in modern Garden State history.
Why are these N.J. governor portraits in a different hallway?
But when Christie last year announced a $300 million renovation to the executive wing of the Statehouse, all the paintings moved to the new governor's office down the street at the State Archives Building -- except the ones of DiFrancesco and Codey.
Those two paintings were kept in the hallway leading to the state Senate and Assembly chambers in the Statehouse.
Christie's office never returned messages for why the portraits were left behind.
But Codey, a Democrat, never got along with Christie, a Republican. And neither Codey nor DiFrancesco, a Republican, were ever elected governor.
DiFrancesco and Codey were presidents of the state Senate when they took over because Christie Whitman and Jim McGreevey resigned the governorship early. DiFrancesco served from 2001 to 2002, while Codey served from 2004 to 2006.
But Murphy -- a Democrat who often criticized Christie -- took over as governor last week. And Murphy made a point Tuesday to note that the two portraits have returned to hang alongside the ones of Brendan Byrne, Tom Kean, Jim Florio, Whitman, McGreevey, and Jon Corzine in the outer office.
"This is our first event in this room with two additional portraits being hung," Murphy said as he stepped to the podium in the room, which is where the governor often addresses the media.
Codey's response? He took a shot at Christie, though not by name.
"It's very sad what somebody had done," Codey, who still serves in the state Senate, told NJ Advance Media. "You've got to respect the office. But what can I say?"
"I'm not happy that I'm hanging," he added, jokingly. "But I'm hanging in the right place, with the right people."
Christie's portrait has yet to join the wall.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.