With First Lady Tammy Murphy out of the race, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) is now set to run on the county line for U.S. Senate all across New Jersey – but two of his remaining primary opponents, Patricia Campos-Medina and Larry Hamm, are calling for him to stick to his word and reject the lines that have been offered to him.
Kim is currently the lead plaintiff in a still-pending lawsuit against the county line, the New Jersey system that lets county political parties shape primary ballots, and said yesterday that he still believes the line should be struck down. But he also said that he intends to run on the line if it continues to exist, even in counties with endorsement processes that he previously decried as undemocratic, drawing criticism from Campos-Medina and Hamm.
“I have been against the line for my entire political life in New Jersey; Larry Hamm, too,” Campos-Medina said. “[Kim] joined us because the line wasn’t working for him, and he had the platform to take it forward. If he decides to take the line and not continue fighting forward against the line, it will tell us a lot about who he is as a candidate and as a person.”
“Of course I think he should [reject the line]!” Hamm said. “I think he should stick to his guns. The days ahead will show just how much of an insurgent Andy Kim is.”
Back when Murphy was still in the race, Kim, Campos-Medina, and Hamm issued a joint statement calling for an office-block primary with no county lines. (Murphy declined to join that same call.) Kim said last night, though, that he didn’t intend on relinquishing the advantages of the county line system now that they’re in his favor, even though he’ll continue fighting for the system to be abolished.
“I’m doing my best to try to win this nomination to be the Democratic nominee for Senate, but that doesn’t change how I feel about the system as a whole,” he said.
That isn’t good enough, Campos-Medina said today.
“If he’s going to work within the system, and accept the system, then he is accepting an establishment position that negatively impacts women and women of color,” Campos-Medina said. “And I will call him out on that.”
But regardless of whether the line stays or goes, Kim is the heavy favorite for the Democratic Senate nomination. A three-term congressman, Kim raised nearly $3 million in his first three months in the race, and has raised millions more in the months since then; Campos-Medina, who has never run for office before, and Hamm, who served on the Newark school board decades ago, will have a tough time overcoming that kind of firepower.
Still, both said that they look forward to making their case to New Jersey voters about why they are the true progressive choice in the race and why voters should reject Kim, whom they said is still too close to the New Jersey political establishment.
“We did have an alignment around some issues, including that of the county line, but I always saw him as part of the establishment,” Hamm said. “I think what’s going to happen in the days ahead is that the differences between the candidates who remain in the race will become clearer.”
“Andy Kim has only told us what he’s against: he’s against Menendez, he was against Tammy Murphy, and he was against the line,” Campos-Medina said. “If he claims he’s a progressive, what is he for? Because I am a progressive with a record of advocating for policy and getting policy done.”