Essex County is expected to settle a lawsuit on county organization lines as early as today, becoming the latest — and largest — New Jersey county — to agree to office block ballots in primary elections.
Essex is now the fourth county to settle the lawsuit, brought by a group of unsuccessful congressional candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary and the New Jersey Working Families Party. Last year, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) joined the suit, and U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi through out the line for the 2024 Democratic primary; Kim is now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.
Middlesex, Burlington, and Warren are already ending their participation in the lawsuit.
The county clerk, Democrat Christopher Durkin, will now hold separate drawings among candidates for each office. While candidates will compete separately for individual offices, Essex will continue to honor the use of common slogans.
Going forward, Essex will not place candidates in a way that creates an “ incongruous separation from other candidates running for the same office.” The settlement agreement terms could change if a future court or an act by the New Jersey Legislature creates a different system.
Essex has three likely Democratic gubernatorial candidates: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), and New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, the former mayor of Montclair.
As part of the settlement, Essex will pay the attorneys who brought the suit $32,533. Kim has pledged not to use any of the settlement funds on his 2024 Senate campaign.