The former president of the National Organization for Women New Jersey has endorsed Rep. Andy Kim for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in 2024, but the significance of her support has more to do with the math of awarding the organization line in Union County than anything else.
Anjali Mehrotra is the Mountainside Democratic municipal chair. Under Union County Democratic rules, each of the 21 municipal chairs gets one vote to award to the line regardless of population. That means Kim needs ten more votes to secure the line – not an easy task since most of the chairs are close to Senate President Nicholas Scutari, the Union County Democratic chairman.
But in four other municipalities – Westfield, Summit, Hillside, and Garwood – Democratic mayors offered early endorsements for Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s bid for governor in 2025. Fulop lauded Kim on Saturday with a public non-endorsement endorsement.
Mehrotra said on social media on Sunday that she would back Kim, a three-term congressman from South Jersey, in his bid to oust three-term incumbent Bob Menendez in the Democratic primary.
“(Andy Kim) is a phenomenal human. I would be proud to be his constituent. (Representation matters) and this man gets this,” she said, “As a fellow AAPI, he supported me when I ran for Assembly in 2021, and now I get to return the favor.”
But today, Mehrotra sent out mixed signals with a series of social media posts calling for Menendez’s Senate seat to go to a woman or a Latina.
“I call on the governor to appoint a woman as the next U.S. Senator from New Jersey,” she said.
The current NOW NJ president, Jill LaZare, said on Tuesday that her organization has demanded Menendez’s resignation and said she wants to see a woman run for the Senate. LaZare listed First Lady Tammy Murphy and Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and Bonnie Watson (D-Ewing) as potential candidates.
This story was updated at 11:30 AM on September 26.