Tammy Murphy's campaign never caught fire. The line — and Trump — didn't help | Stile

In her stunning exit video Sunday, New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy said she had made the decision to bail out of the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate “because this campaign has never been about me.”

In reality, though, the race was very much about Murphy — albeit not the image she so desperately sought to sell to a skeptical Democratic party base.

Over the course of the campaign, Murphy portrayed herself as a “Jersey girl with grit” who championed maternal health issue and champion of climate change.

It never took hold, not even in her home county of Monmouth, where Murphy and her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, raised their family for 25 years.

Instead, she became a poster child for New Jersey’s corroded party machinery, a candidate with a Republican pedigree clutching the coattails of her powerful husband. She tried to cast herself as a candidate for New Jersey’s future but became chained to the Tammany Hall-style system ruled by party bosses in closed-door county clubhouses.

And party bosses, eager to please her husband, delivered her a coveted prize that under normal circumstances would have guaranteed a bump-free ride to the nomination on June 4. A victory in June would have almost made her the odds-on favorite to succeed the scandal-scarred Sen. Bob Menendez in November.

That distinction now goes to Rep. Andy Kim, D-Burlington, her chief competitor. Still, Murphy may now have become an important footnote in New Jersey politics — the flawed candidate who unwittingly help bring about the eventual demise of the antiquated political county boss system that has defined New Jersey politics for decades.

“Tammy’s withdrawal may lead to reform of the ballot and an end to the party lines," said Jeff Tittel, a former director of the Sierra Club of New Jersey and a veteran political consultant who was critical of the Murphy campaign. “Her losing campaign could lead to reform of a corrupt process.”

'Grassroots energy' trumps organizational Democratic power

Murphy's campaign never got traction, as Kim shrewdly contrasted himself as a buck-the-machine candidate — a true Democrat who had the clubhouse door shut in his face. He was embraced around the state by angry grassroots activists, who had been trying for years to chip away at the implacable power of the county parties.

In their eyes, Murphy became Exhibit A of what’s exactly wrong with the system — a candidate with a Republican pedigree. It was nepotism on steroids, and Murphy could never shake the image. The Democratic grassroots rallied behind Kim and his defiant posture.

"The grassroots energy, you know, that is really the game-changer," Kim said Sunday. "That was what allowed us to be able to get our message out and show what it is that we're trying to do."

Murphy was also faced in the final 11 weeks before the primary with the prospect of losing the key institutional advantage that leaders of the most populous Democratic counties bestowed on her shortly after she jumped into the race last November: a preferential placement on the June 4 ballot on the county line.

The “line” — a bracketing with other county-blessed candidates in a row or column, usually in the first position on the ballot — virtually granted her large pluralities of votes in counties that mattered the most. It made her the hands-down favorite to win.

A federal lawsuit Kim filed in February seeks to strike down the line as an unfair, unconstitutional relic. A ruling could come from U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi this week. A decision to strike down the line ballot might have doomed Murphy.

Ironically, Kim said Sunday that he told county chairs on a conference call earlier in the day that he would agree to replace Murphy on the ballot in the counties where she won the line — a move that means Kim will participate in the very system he is seeking to bring down in court.

But he argued — as he testified in a court hearing last week — that he felt it necessary to play by the current rules. He is still facing two other competitors: Patricia Campos-Medina, a Latina activist, and Lawrence Hamm, a social justice activist from Essex County. Surrendering the line would mean possibly giving either one a potent advantage before Quraishi issues his ruling.

Charlie Stile: Now, the NJ Legislature may tackle the line? That's a hollow pledge

Was it all really — and sadly — about Trump?

Still, the power of the ballot line might not have provided Murphy much help, anyway. Kim, a former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, clearly had the grassroots momentum behind him. He led by as much as 12 points in one poll, and Murphy, a vaunted fundraiser in her own right, found herself traveling out of state to raise money for the homestretch.

She was facing the prospect of having to wage a bitter, negative campaign — a discrediting of Kim — in order to win, a nightmare scenario for the national Democratic Party, which is already facing an uphill battle trying to maintain its narrow majority control this fall.

The state is supposed to be a quiet, reliable Democratic bastion, not a costly battleground. A nominee staggering into the fall campaign, bruised by an ugly New Jersey primary, loomed as a potentially expensive headache that national Democrats simply didn’t need.

Further riling nerves of party leaders was Menendez, who vowed to run as “independent Democrat” in the fall if he is exonerated in his bribery trial, which is slated to begin on May 6. It’s a long shot, but the idea of Menendez siphoning off votes from Democrats in the fall was another source of worry for the national party and a thin reed of hope for New Jersey Republicans, who haven’t elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.

And then there is the prospect of a Trump restoration. Again, New Jersey will likely stay blue. But why take a chance?

“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 said in her video statement. “And with Donald Trump on the ballot and so much at stake for our nation, I will not, in good conscience, waste resources tearing down a fellow Democrat."

She added later, “And as we face grave, dangerous threats on the national level, thanks to Donald Trump, and far-right extremists, it's time to unify, not divide. I will now focus entirely on reelecting President Biden and ensuring Democratic victories up and down the ballot all across New Jersey.”

Kim said he spoke with Murphy on Sunday by phone.

“I told her that I will continue to be somebody that can work with her going forward and I've appreciated the thoughtfulness with which she clearly thought through this,” he said in a call with reporters Sunday night. “And I'm sure it was an incredibly difficult decision for her.”

Yes, the campaign was about Murphy. It was also about the power of party lines and New Jersey’s reputation for corruption. And as with everything these days, it was also about Trump.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Tammy Murphy ends NJ Senate run: It never caught fire