Progressive and grassroots groups that backed Rep. Andy Kim as he challenged New Jersey’s Democratic power brokers in the race for a Senate nomination cheered the decision by his chief rival, Tammy Murphy, to drop out of the race as a victory for democracy.
Murphy, the wife of Gov. Phil Murphy, announced Sunday that she was suspending her campaign, providing a huge boost to Kim’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Her announcement came days after incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who is facing federal bribery charges, said he won’t be on the June primary ballot.
And now Kim, a three-term House member who flipped a seat in 2018, could be in a good position to win the seat in November in a state that last elected a Republican to the Senate in 1972. But in doing so, he could also upend the state’s political machinery, which for decades has given preferential ballot placement known as “the line” to candidates backed by powerful county organizations.
