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Andy Kim wants courts to toss NJ's 'county line' ballots before Senate primary
By
Nancy Solomon
Published Feb 26, 2024
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(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
By
Nancy Solomon
Published Feb 26, 2024
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Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey stepped up his fight with First Lady Tammy Murphy in the Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate Monday, filing a federal lawsuit and seeking an injunction to stop counties from using the so-called “county line” on their ballots.
The governor’s wife has received support from the majority of the state’s Democratic Party county chairs, which in many cases automatically grants her the county parties’ endorsements. And in all but two New Jersey counties, party endorsements confer an advantage by grouping candidates who are familiar to voters together on a single line on primary ballots. New Jersey is the only state that does so.
Kim is leading by double digits in a recent poll and has won the first three county conventions that allow their members to vote on endorsements. But most of the committees for counties with the largest numbers of Democrats do not hold votes of their rank-and-file members.
“This is the worst that I've seen it, in terms of the first lady weaponizing the county line and weaponizing this process to advantage her,” Kim said. "It really has shown the whole state, and frankly the country, the problems that we have here in New Jersey.”
Murphy has said she is merely operating within the system that exists.
“Andy Kim doesn’t have a problem with the county line system, he has a problem with the idea of losing county lines,” Murphy spokesperson Alexandra Altman said in a written statement. “He is perfectly happy to participate in the process when he wins, and he has benefited from the lines in every other election he’s run.”
Kim was asked about this criticism in a video call with reporters.
“Is it the right system? Is it a fair system? Is it a just system?” Kim said. “I don't understand why someone wants to be a senator if they're just going to accept things as it is.”
On Sunday, Kim was on his way to winning the vote of the Hunterdon County Democratic Committee when its chair, Arlene Quiñones Perez, told members that her executive committee had decided to share the county line with any candidate that receives more than 30 percent of the vote.
The roughly 200 people at the meeting shouted angrily, forcing a vote that turned back the decision. Kim ultimately won the Hunterdon endorsement.
A group of organizations and former candidates filed a federal lawsuit in 2021 against the county line, saying it is unconstitutional. That case is still winding its way through the courts.
The Kim legal action would seek an immediate injunction to stop use of the line before the June primary.
Tagged
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Politics
Nancy Solomon
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