NJ first lady Tammy Murphy ends Senate campaign, paving way for Andy Kim

New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy announced she is suspending her Senate campaign Sunday, ending a troubled Democratic candidacy that exposed the deep rift between New Jersey’s Democratic grassroots and party bosses.

“After many busy, invigorating — and yes, challenging — months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today,” Murphy said in a video message. “I’ve been genuine and factual throughout. But it is clear to me that continuing in this race will involve waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do.”

Murphy’s stunning decision all but paves the way to the Democratic nomination for Rep. Andy Kim, who launched an insurgent campaign against Murphy that transformed what some feared would be a near-coronation into one of the nation’s premier Senate primary races. Murphy struggled to gain traction against Kim despite her backing by New Jersey’s most powerful Democratic leaders. And Kim’s lawsuit against the “county line” has threatened to upend the New Jersey political practice of awarding favorable ballot placement to party-backed candidates.

Her decision comes days after incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez, who is under indictment on corruption charges, said he would bow out of the Democratic primary and possibly run as an independent in November.

Murphy made the announcement formal after meeting with county Democratic chairs who had backed her Sunday in the offices of the Genova Burns law firm in Newark.

While there are two other candidates in the race — labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm — Kim is the near-prohibitive favorite without Murphy in the race.

"Tammy Murphy has been a voice for progress and public service in our state, and I respect her decision to carry on that work as First Lady," Kim said in a statement. "Tammy and I both agree that it is critical that we keep this seat, and the Senate, in Democratic control. Unity is vital. We will continue our efforts to strengthen our democracy in New Jersey while we come together to stand up against the dangerous agenda pushed by [Donald] Trump."

Somerset County Democratic Chair Peg Schaffer, an early Murphy backer, said that Kim would now have “the line” in her county since he finished second at the Somerset County Democratic convention. The line is shorthand for New Jersey’s unique primary ballot design that groups candidates backed by party organizations in a single column or row instead of by office, which all other states do.

“I’m disappointed, but I understand,” Schaffer said of Murphy’s decision to drop out of the race. “The race was getting nasty. … Several of us met, heard from her and she said it's taking a toll … And if we continued this way it would be a bloody, nasty campaign, and we’re not gonna do that.”

The Murphy for Senate campaign, which began in November, was perhaps the most spectacular political flameout in recent New Jersey memory. Murphy had early on been considered the front-runner, having secured support from party bosses in crucial Democratic counties long before she formally announced.

Murphy as first lady did not alienate progressives, and her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, has remained fairly popular with Democrats.

But while Tammy Murphy was able to make use of her fundraising contacts, raising $3.2 million in the campaign’s first six weeks, grassroots party activists revolted at the thought of one couple holding so much power and the top-down decision to embrace Murphy as the establishment choice. Kim did not raise as much money but stayed competitive and had far more donations from small donors.

Murphy, meanwhile, was met with a barrage of criticism online and lukewarm support even among some of her backers.

According to a person who was in the room during the Sunday Murphy campaign meeting, county chairs who had backed Murphy came away with the impression that Kim would accept their endorsements and run under the party line. And it’s not yet clear at this point what impact Murphy’s decision will have on Kim’s lawsuit, which, aside from Kim, includes two Democratic House candidates as plaintiffs.

Kim is seeking a preliminary injunction for office block ballots — where candidates are grouped together by the office they are running for — in the June primary. Every other state in the nation and two counties in New Jersey use that ballot layout.

Sunday's developments "do not change the fact that the lawsuit continues," said attorneys in the lawsuit, Brett Pugach, Flavio L. Komuves and Yael Bromberg, in a joint statement.

"The clerks' county line primary ballots continue to violate constitutional rights of all three candidates who are suing, as well as the voters' rights. New Jersey cannot tolerate one more unconstitutional election," they said.

The race for the Democratic nomination is to replace Menendez, who last week said he may file an independent candidacy if he’s exonerated of the 16 corruption counts against him. Menendez is accused of doing political favors for businesspeople who allegedly gave him and his wife Nadine hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash, gold bars and a luxury car. The former Senate Committee on Foreign Relations chair is also accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar. His trial is scheduled to begin in May.

Kim, 41, got in the race on Sept. 23, just one day after Menendez’s indictment. Murphy, 58, quickly started making calls, quietly lining up support among New Jersey’s Democratic county chairs before entering the race in November. She gained support from party leaders in primary vote-rich counties, like Camden, Essex, Hudson and Middlesex. 

In those counties, the backing of county chairs is traditionally a tremendous advantage in Democratic primaries. Those counties — and others — are top-down in their endorsement process and having the support of party leaders translates to favorable positioning on primary ballots as well as resources.

But other county parties in the state differ in how they endorse candidates, with some awarding endorsements by secret ballot votes of hundreds of low-level elected party officials. In those counties where rank and file members voted on who to endorse, Kim won — often by landslides.

The state’s first Democratic county convention in Monmouth County proved to be a pivotal moment in the race, where Kim beat Murphy in a secret ballot vote to win the endorsement of Democrats there by nearly 20 points. Murphy has been a Monmouth County resident for decades but Kim represents around a third of the district.

The campaign continued to struggle. Her first campaign manager left in February, following early county convention losses. She hired New Jersey and New York political veteran Maggie Moran earlier this month to run her campaign.

Though Kim had run under the county line in all three of his House primaries, he based his candidacy around challenging the political boss system that had given rise to Menendez and other ethically-troubled politicians in a state notorious for corruption. Kim, who was first elected to the House in 2018 and made positive headlines when photos showed him cleaning up int he wake up the Capitol riot

Murphy, who did not endorse Kim in her video announcement Sunday, said that “instead of talking about process and politics, my campaign has been about solutions for families and a vision for the next generation”

“New Jersey’s next senator must focus on the issues of our time and not be mired in tearing others down while dividing the people of our party and our state,” Murphy said.

Campos-Medina said she intends to file enough signatures by the Monday deadline to appear on the ballot.

"I challenge all candidates to discuss and debate issues," she said in a statement. "NJ voters are tired of attack politics and deserve to know where candidates stand on real issues that affect them like affordability and their freedoms."

The filing deadline to compete in the Democratic primary for Senate in New Jersey is 4 p.m. Monday, although it is unclear if any other challengers will be able to gather the 1,000 signatures needed to appear on the ballot by then.

Three main Republican candidates are competing for their party’s nomination: Hotelier Curtis Bashaw, Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner and former Statehouse reporter Alex Zdan.

But if Kim wins the Democratic nomination, he’s the heavy favorite in November in a state where Republicans have not won a Senate race in New Jersey since 1972, and where there are almost 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans.

“Kim is going to be the nominee and the senator. He’s walking away with it,” said one person close to a county chair who supported Murphy and was granted anonymity to speak about the dynamics of the race shortly after Murphy’s announcement.