New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy has dropped out of the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in the race for the seat of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), upending the state\u2019s party machine that had lined up behind her.<\/p>\n
Murphy\u2019s exit from the race leaves Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who has been surging in recent polls, as the overwhelming favorite for the nomination in the heavily Democratic state\u2019s June 4 primary.<\/p>\n
Murphy, wife of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), made the announcement in a video shared on X on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter many busy, invigorating and, yes, challenging months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today,\u201d she said in the video.<\/p>\n
Murphy, a financier who formerly worked for Goldman Sachs, was in a competitive primary race against a number of Democrats, including Kim. She has never held elected office but has maintained a portfolio as first lady since 2018.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Kim said he respected Murphy\u2019s decision and looked forward to working with her and the governor. \u201cTammy and I both agree that it is critical that we keep this seat, and the Senate, in Democratic control,\u201d he said. \u201cUnity is vital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, Menendez announced that he will not run as a Democrat in the race, but he did not rule out running as an independent. He had faced political challenges since he was charged in September with bribery and other crimes while serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.<\/p>\n
According to the New Jersey Globe, which first reported the news, Murphy decided to end her bid Saturday after a discussion with her family and advisers.<\/p>\n
Murphy grew up a Republican and had made large donations to George W. Bush\u2019s presidential campaigns, but had earned the support of many establishment Democrats in a state where political bosses across 21 counties have long played an outsize role in statewide races.<\/p>\n
In New Jersey\u2019s unique and controversial \u201cline\u201d ballot system, Senate and gubernatorial candidates who are running with the endorsement of their party get placed in a specific portion of the ballot known as \u201cthe line.\u201d Candidates running without their party\u2019s endorsement, meanwhile, appear in a lower section of the ballot, where voters may be less likely to see their names.<\/p>\n
Kim filed a lawsuit in February against the ballot system. Last week, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin\u2019s office said that the system is \u201cunconstitutional\u201d and that his office would not defend it in court.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit drew attention both to the state\u2019s controversial ballot and to Murphy\u2019s position as the establishment\u2019s preferred candidate.<\/p>\n
In the video announcing the end of her bid, Murphy alluded to the tension over the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy has dropped out of the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in the race for the seat of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), upending the state\u2019s party machine that had lined up behind her. Murphy\u2019s exit from the race leaves Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who has been surging in recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}