Despite being given multiple opportunities to name Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), who beat his wife, Tammy Murphy, in the state’s Democratic primaries, for Senate, Murphy has declined to endorse him outright.
Murphy also declined to appoint Kim to former Sen. Bob Menendez’s vacant Senate seat, a move that some saw as a slight given it may have given Kim a leg-up as an incumbent against Republican challenger Curtis Bashaw. He appointed his former chief of staff, George Helmy, instead.
In an interview with Semafor last week, Murphy said they have “two very good candidates running” in the state’s Senate race. When questioned on the statement, he said, “I happen to know both of them well! But obviously, I’m a Democrat, so you can imagine where I’m going to be.”
Murphy’s statement suggests he will vote for Kim, but he doesn’t endorse him. Murphy told the New Jersey Globe on Friday that “Just because I say that somebody’s a nice person doesn’t mean that that’s where my allegiance is going to fall,” adding that he’d vote for Democrats up and down the ticket.
The governor declined that there’s any sort of drama between him and Kim. “A lot of the press, and I’m not accusing anybody of this, would imply that there’s sort of some middle school drama between me and Andy Kim, which is just not true,” he told reporters earlier this month.
As for his refusal to appoint Kim, he said that he refused to put his “finger on the scale” of the Senate election. He said he called Bashaw and Kim to inform them of the same statement, and that the winner will step in after the election is certified, taking Helmy’s spot.
Still, a lack of support from Murphy for Kim is unusual. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) said “There is no middle ground there. He is the Democratic candidate for Senate and he will be our next senator, let’s be clear about it.”
The Bashaw campaign welcomed Murphy’s “support” and confirmed that Bashaw did work with Murphy and “a number of governors on both sides of the aisle” as the owner of Cape Resorts.
“While Andy Kim’s support goes no further than his far-left base, Curtis is gaining ground with Democrats, Republicans, and independents all across the state,” a spokesperson for Bashaw told the Washington Examiner.
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“So we obviously welcome Gov. Murphy’s support.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the Kim campaign and Murphy’s office but did not receive a response.
