Andy Kim beats Tammy Murphy in straw poll of Monmouth Dem leaders

In the first straw poll conducted among Democratic Party establishment leaders in Monmouth County for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) defeated First Lady Tammy Murphy by a 2-1 margin.

Monmouth could be an important early battleground between Kim, whose congressional district includes ten municipalities in western Monmouth County, and favorite daughter Murphy, who lives in Middletown with her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy.

The vote suggests that while Murphy has secured endorsements from many of the state’s most powerful Democratic insiders, she has not closed the deal on a group of Democratic influencers sitting in the middle between powerbrokers and rank-and-file Democratic primary voters.

Kim won the straw poll by a vote of 29-13 against Murphy, with 13 additional votes cast for undecided.  The vote was taken at a meeting of Monmouth County Democratic leaders on Monday evening, with ballots made available to municipal chairs, mayors, and Monmouth area legislators.

Murphy has the endorsement of Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch), who had a vote as the Long Branch Democratic municipal chairman.

There was no ballot, just a slip of paper given to each of the 55 Democratic officials who voted in a secret ballot.  The straw poll was not announced beforehand, so no candidate mounted a campaign effort.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, a three-term incumbent under indictment on federal corruption charges, received zero votes.  No votes were cast for former Newark school board member Lawrence Hamm, an announced candidate, or former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), who is exploring a Senate run.

The ten Monmouth towns were added to Kim’s district after congressional redistricting in 2021.

Monmouth County has the seventh-highest number of registered Democrats in the state and a line awarded by an open convention of up to 934 county committee members

“Of course this is just a straw poll and has no bearing on who our county party actually awards support to. Monmouth prides itself on having the most open convention in the state – consisting of elected county committee, local elected officials and elected municipal chairs to designate who the Monmouth County Democrats award our endorsement to,” said David Brown, the Democratic county chairman, in an email to paty leaders obtained by the New Jersey Globe.  “As the most involved people in our party, we give our rank and file the ability to endorse our official candidate(s).”

The convention is expected to be held in February, Brown said, noting that over 700 Democrats have participated in these conventions in the past.

“The straw poll shows what I see from the people of New Jersey every day: they’re hungry for change and for public servants who are experienced in doing work for our state and our communities. There’s something happening in New Jersey right now; regular people are standing up and demanding a fair choice in their elected leaders,” said Kim.  “They want a voice, they want their vote to count, and I’m going to continue to be their champion in this race and in the Senate.”

In an all-vote-by-mail 2020 primary, Monmouth produced 60,637 votes for Cory Booker and 7,819 for Hamm – and 7.1% of all votes cast in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary that year.