New Jersey's top federal prosecutor is joining a growing list of government officials resigning or retiring from their posts.

As president Biden's term comes to an end.

Philip Sellinger, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey announced this week, will step down from his position in January, just before Donald Trump is sworn into office.

The move doesn't come as a surprise, but a senior political correspondent, David Cruz, reports.

It officially sets into motion GOP political jockeying for the seat.

For such an important position, getting picked as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is a lot more about who you know than what you know.

And the closer you are to the president elect's inner circle, the better your chances are.

And that could explain why the two names most frequently mentioned to succeed Phil Sellinger are Republican state senators Mike Testa and Doug Steinberg.

They are both loyalists to Trump and will be very close to the Trump administration.

I would expect that whether they get the job or not.

You know, you're talking about people who have both been his campaign chair in New Jersey.

So, you know, as as close as anybody has been to him.

On the other hand, they are both politicians who are well regarded by Democrats as well.

And that could make a difference if the administration consults with the U.S. senators from new Jersey, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, which is traditional.

For what it's worth, Tesla has been a frequent Booker troll on social media.

Steinhardt is a partner at Florio Ferrucci, a big law firm with tentacles all over the state's political establishment.

D and he's also a former state party chair.

Tester's from a powerful South Jersey political family and is the current Cumberland County GOP chair.

Neither potential nominee was talking today, but several individuals familiar with the process said both had already been interviewed.

One name that came up several times in conversations today was Jeff Van Drew, the congressman most associated with what it is to be pro Trump in New Jersey.

He added, David, you may have talked to other people about this.

Is that he so close to Van Drew mine and Van Drew's going to have a whole lot to say about this one.

He's probably the person in Trump world who's closest to Trump and who's got his ear the most.

And they come from the same part of the state, right.

You know, to replace him in the state Senate and so, I would not be surprised to see that going in tester's direction as well.

So other than fodder for political speculation, what does it really matter who the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is?

It's incredibly important, for the people of new Jersey and same thing across the country for all the various U.S. attorneys panel.

But tell of the new Jersey Institute for Social Justice says it can be easy to forget the kinds of things the U.S. attorney can do, like force local governments to provide language services during elections or catching banks who practice discriminatory lending, both of which happened over the last few years here.

And the most recent is they investigated U.S. Attorney's office with the DOJ and DC Trenton Police Department and found over a report was released just, the days ago, essentially of, a pattern and practice of civil rights violations against the people of Trenton, black and brown people of Trenton from their police department.

For an ambitious politician, the U.S. Attorney's office can be an especially bouncy springboard.

Former U.S. attorney and governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie is the best most recent example of that.

But the next U.S. attorney from new Jersey will have been the choice of the pointer in chief, who values loyalty over most anything else, including ambition.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.