Khalil ends 36-hour Assembly bid after Fulop pulls support

Christina Khalil dropped her bid for the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the 35th district one day after joining the race.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop announced Thursday morning that Khalil, the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024, would team up with former Garfield Councilman Romi Herrera to run on his slate of legislative candidates.

The Fulop campaign pulled its support of Khalil on Friday after a more thorough background check.

“Well, I’m no longer running in LD 35 or with Fulop,” Khalil said in a social media post.  “It’s okay, though. I’m back to studying and working. I wish the team the best.”

Khalil received 1% of the vote in her Senate race, running more than 2.1 million votes behind the winner, Democrat Andy Kim.

Members of the New Jersey Green Party shed no tears on Khalil’s move to the Democratic Party.

“All she brought us was problems, problems, and more problems,” said Lily Benavides, the Green Party candidate for Congress in the 11th district last year.

Pat Noble, a former Socialist Party US national chairman and a New Jersey resident, slammed Khalil as an opportunist.

“This in-and-out isn’t uncommon for would-be politicians who can’t make it as a Democrat, so I and a lot of us should have known better than to promote her Senate campaign,” Noble said. “I apologize if anyone voted for Ms. Khalil due to my promoting of pro-Gaza candidates in 2024, and wish her all the best in what I’m sure will be as fruitful of a campaign as her ill-fated Democrat primary campaign for US Senate last year.”