Rep. Andy Kim had another strong weekend in his New Jersey Senate primary against First Lady Tammy Murphy, winning two Democratic conventions and even beating back an attempt to take away one of those victories.
Kim won the Burlington County Democratic Committee convention Saturday with 90% of the vote in his home county. On Sunday, he won the Hunterdon County Democratic Committee’s endorsement with 62% of the vote. Along with a win earlier this month in Monmouth County, this means Kim has won the first three party conventions that hold an actual vote of its full membership.
County party endorsements are critically important in New Jersey primary elections because each county ballot has its own endorsed candidates who are given preferential placement. Most of the largest Democratic county organizations do not allow their rank-and-file members to vote, and most of the committee chairs – often referred to as party bosses – have endorsed Murphy, the wife of Gov. Phil Murphy.
At the Hunterdon County convention, chairwoman Arlene Quiñones Perez came to the podium after the rank-and-file members had turned in their paper ballots, and announced the executive committee had decided that anyone who received 30% of the vote or more would share the line of the ballot.
An uproar ensued, with many members crying foul. In the chaos, one member called for a vote to appeal the executive committee’s decision, which ultimately won.
“This is what I've been speaking out against – the party elites just trying to make decisions here that can put its thumb on the scale of this election,” Kim said after the convention. “Seeing it up close and personal in real time was something else, honestly, but I have to say I'm really heartened by the fact that the rank-and-file Democrats didn’t go along with this.”
Kim won 62% of the vote and Tammy Murphy won 33%, which under the committee chairwoman’s original plan, would have put the First Lady on the ballot’s party line along with Kim.
Murphy said she did not push for the change to the rules.
“They were just trying to find an equitable way to be responsible and I don’t know, I actually thought it might have made sense, but I had no vote,” she said.
The three conventions give Kim momentum in the race to replace Sen. Bob Menendez, who was indicted in October on bribery and corruption charges. Kim announced his candidacy days after the charges were filed. But the state’s party establishment endorsed Murphy when she entered the race.
Many of the biggest Democratic counties do not hold a vote, so Murphy will be on the county line in the most vote-rich places, including Hudson, Essex and Camden counties.
The primary will be held June 4.
