Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) may be the clear frontrunner for U.S. Senate in this year’s Democratic primary, but he will still run off-the-line in Camden County, his legal team said today.
Kim is currently the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the county line, the New Jersey ballot design system that places party-endorsed candidates together. Camden County Democrats are among those spearheading the charge against that lawsuit, which Kim said makes it unacceptable for him to publicly associate with them by joining their ticket.
“If Rep. Kim sought bracketing and a shared slogan, he would be associating with the Camden County Democratic Committee and its candidates, who are adverse parties to him in this active litigation before Your Honor,” Kim’s attorneys wrote today in a letter to U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi. “Bracketing with a legal adversary would not be appropriate, and would be confusing to voters.”
Kim – who would be the first South Jerseyan elected to the Senate in decades if he wins – has filed to run with the slogan of “New Jersey Democratic Team” in Camden County. He will not be bracketing with a slate of off-the-line progressive county-level candidates, who will instead appear on Senate candidate Patricia Campos-Medina’s line.
A third Democratic Senate candidate, Larry Hamm, will also not be appearing on the Camden line, meaning Camden Democrats simply won’t have any candidate for Senate this year. Because Senate candidates get priority during ballot draws, that means President Joe Biden, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), and every other Camden Democratic-endorsed candidate on the ballot will appear in Column D on primary ballots – echoing the “ballot Siberia” Camden Democrats themselves have sometimes inflicted on their opponents.
Camden Democrats had probably the most ostentatiously one-sided endorsement process of any county party this year: Murphy, who had the support of South Jersey Democratic boss George Norcross, was awarded the line at a county committee meeting which other candidates were not invited to and which Campos-Medina was physically barred from entering.
By keeping himself off-the-line in Camden specifically, Kim may be hoping to preserve a key argument of his lawsuit, which is that the line forces candidates to associate with organizations and other candidates against their will.
The lawsuit originally hinged on Kim’s line-based disadvantages in his Senate primary against First Lady Tammy Murphy, which Kim said necessitated immediate relief – but with Murphy dropping out of the race over the weekend, that argument may no longer hold as much sway over Quraishi. Attorneys representing the pro-line side have said they believe Murphy’s exit “drastically changes the relevant analysis of irreparable harm” in the case.
According to the letter Kim’s attorneys sent today, Kim has filed paperwork to run on-the-line in 17 of the 19 counties that use the line system, including in a number of counties that had originally endorsed Murphy.
The one other exception besides Camden is Cumberland County, a small South Jersey county where the local Democratic organization is currently in shambles. Two different factions of Cumberland Democrats are each claiming to be the official county party organization, and both have endorsed rival slates of county-level candidates.
Like in Camden County, Kim has filed to run in Cumberland County on the “New Jersey Democratic Team” slogan, distancing himself from the divisions that are roiling local Democrats. But Kim’s campaign said it still plans on supporting every Democrat, no matter the county, once the primary is over.
“Congressman Kim is dedicated to helping Democratic candidates across the state win in November; this decision does not change that,” spokesperson Katey Sabo said.
Andy Kim Camden letter