Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) has overwhelmingly won the Morris County Democratic convention, ratcheting up his ninth convention win in his bid for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat.
Kim defeated First Lady Tammy Murphy 457 votes to 57, or 85% to 11%; a third candidate, Patricia Campos-Medina, won 26 votes, or 5%. The win gives Kim the Morris Democratic organization line – assuming it still exists by the Democratic primary on June 4.
“With this massive win in Morris County, we’ve ended this convention season in NJ with a staggering 9 wins,” Kim said. “Wherever we had an open and fair opportunity, we won with overwhelming margins. Now we are going to bring that momentum to June 4 in all 21 counties.”
Morris County held its convention on Saturday, but voting was done online, with balloting closing at 11:59 PM on Sunday. Party officials announced the results this morning.
But the Democratic county chair, Amalia Duarte, didn’t take sides in the Senate race, either publicly or privately. She congratulated Kim in a statement this morning, calling him the “right candidate for this moment,” and also drew attention to Morris County’s open convention process – which stands in contrast to some other counties’ processes.
“This is an endorsement model other counties should follow to allow the broadest possible participation and give Party members a voice in the process,” Duarte said. “Like many Morris County Democrats, I got involved in 2017 to be part of a larger movement and to make a difference. That’s why this small ‘d’ democratic process is so important to me. A secret ballot is sacred and an integral part of the democratic process.”
Duarte announced her endorsement of Kim on social media on Monday morning.
Kim, a three-term congressman and former Obama White House staffer; Murphy, New Jersey’s first lady since 2018; and Campos-Medina, a longtime figure in the state’s organized labor circles, all attended the Saturday convention.
Six years ago, Democrat Bob Menendez easily won the Morris convention. Menendez has not yet said if he will seek re-election to a fourth term; he is under indictment on federal corruption charges and his trial begins on May 6.
Morris County made up 5.3% of the vote in the 2020 Democratic primary election.
Sue Altman, the presumptive Democratic nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, won her sixth party endorsement in her bid to oust freshman Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield). Altman has emerged as the organization candidate after spending years fighting to abolish the county line system. Morris Democrats also endorsed Sherrill in her bid for a fourth term.
Kim has won secret ballot convention victories in Monmouth, Burlington, Hunterdon, Sussex, Warren, Ocean, Mercer, and Atlantic.
Murphy prevailed in a secret ballot convention in Bergen and has scored lines in Passaic, Union, Somerset, Middlesex, Hudson, and Camden. She is expected to have the line in Essex County, where LeRoy Jones, Jr., the county and state chairman, has endorsed her, and in Gloucester, where she has the backing of Democratic County Chairman Chad Bruner.