After weeks of traveling across the Garden State, New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy and Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) can begin to focus on the primary election instead of gaining crucial county endorsements.
Murphy and Kim are looking to unseat indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who said he might run as an independent. New Jersey’s ballots allow party leaders to endorse their preferred candidates in what is known as the county line.
Over the course of the convention season, Kim won nine counties, including Sussex County, one of two counties in the state that does not use the county-line ballot. Murphy secured eight counties, but her counties have more weight in the primary as they are more populous.
Cumberland County delayed its county convention by two weeks. Cape May County did not endorse either candidate. The Essex County convention has not yet happened but will likely go to Murphy, as the county chair endorsed her.
In every county Kim won, the county chair was neutral going into the convention and did not endorse any candidate. In all counties Murphy won, the county chair endorsed Murphy ahead of the convention. In some counties, all a candidate needs to get the county endorsement is to have the chair provide his or her endorsement.
Murphy will be on the county line for two-thirds of New Jersey voters ahead of the state’s June 4 primary.
This week, Murphy lost a crucial endorsement from Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, the latest blow to her campaign as she has faced criticism of nepotism.
“I was an early supporter of Tammy Murphy for Senate, but it’s no secret I’ve been disappointed with the campaign and how it has been conducted,” Fulop said in a statement provided to the New Jersey Globe. “I’ve expressed that over the last two months repeatedly both privately and publicly, and, at this point, it’s clear to me that I was wrong with my early support and endorsement of Tammy Murphy for Senate.”
However, these endorsements could become a problem of the past and irrelevant in this election as New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said he will not defend the county line in court.
Last month, Kim sued the 19 county clerks who use the county-line system for it being “unconstitutional” and a process that he says manipulates voters.
“I’m not asking for any advantage for me,” Kim said on the stand on Monday. “All I’m asking for is for New Jersey to be in line with 49 other states in terms of pursuing an office-block-style ballot that would allow us to have a fairer system here.”
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However, winning the county line can give candidates a 38-point advantage. Kim said that preserving democracy is the goal of his lawsuit.
“The whole point of democracy is to give people a choice and to be able to have the decision be made by the people,” Kim said. “If there are elements that are limiting that choice … I believe that to be adverse to the pursuit of democracy.”
