Andy Kim wins Democratic primary in New Jersey Senate race

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) will be the Democratic nominee for Senate in New Jersey, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

Kim will be the favorite to win the Senate seat to succeed embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) in the solidly blue state. Menendez chose not to seek the Democratic nomination after he was indicted on a wide range of charges in his federal bribery case, but he is running for reelection as an independent. 

Kim initially announced his entry into the Senate race a day after Menendez, a longtime and influential senator who has represented New Jersey in the body since 2006, was charged. He said he was originally not planning to run for Senate but believed that the state was at a “breaking point” with Menendez, who had refused calls to resign or announce he would not seek reelection. 

Kim was soon joined in the primary by New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy, the wife of Gov. Phil Murphy (D), setting up what could have been an intense primary fight for the safe Democratic seat. The primary between the two quickly took on an establishment-versus-outsider dynamic, with Murphy gaining widespread support from most major elected New Jersey Democrats and party leaders and Kim trying to rally grassroots organizers. 

The primary also drew attention to New Jersey’s decades-old system of organizing its primary ballot by “county lines” in which the candidates who receive the endorsement of the county party are given the more optimal positioning on the ballot. 

Kim and other Democratic candidates filed a lawsuit amid the primary challenging this system as unconstitutional, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction striking down the county line and ordering the ballot to be organized based on the office candidates are seeking. 

Kim held his own in securing several county party endorsements despite Murphy’s strong connections to party leaders, but it ultimately did not matter, as Murphy decided to drop out of the race in March, citing a “very divisive and negative campaign” that would be required for her to contend for the nomination. 

Kim only faced relatively minor opposition from activist Lawrence Hamm and Patricia Campos-Medina, the executive director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Most major Democrats in the state switched their endorsement to Kim after Murphy dropped out. 

If elected, Kim would be the first Asian American senator from New Jersey.