Andy Kim had a very big smile on his face after his lawsuit to end the controversial New Jersey primary received a preliminary injunction on Friday.
It was a monumental decision in New Jersey politics and has the potential to change the state’s county bosses system that concentrates power among a small group of individuals, especially in the primaries.
“We are starting this order now, but I am hopeful that this will create the kind of permanent change we need in New Jersey,” he told reporters after U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi’s decision.
In his first race against first lady Tammy Murphy — who dropped out of the race on Sunday — Kim has taken on the unexpected role of reforming New Jersey politics, especially in his advocacy against the county line.
“I am very pleased to be able to take on this role that I have played for the past six months,” he said, “in an effort to not only give the people of New Jersey a choice about the position of the United States Senate, but also to trying to fix these broken politics that we have in the state.”
That can be traced back to the line, he and his critics argue. Instead of an office building ballot design that lists candidates by the office they seek, New Jersey groups candidates supported by county parties into a column or row. This gives these candidates an advantage over those who are not supported and relegated to other parts of the ballot, making them appear less legitimate to voters. Quraishi ordered counties to use office building designs during the June primaries — in all races, not just for Senate.
Murphy came into the Senate primaries with huge amounts of institutional support as both tried to unseat indicted Sen. Bob Menendez. Although Kim carried the line in some counties where low-level party officials voted in secret ballots, Murphy held the line in vote-rich Democratic counties and was widely seen as the front-runner for the nomination.
“People told me in November, when the first lady jumped in, that I should drop out of the race and run for re-election to the House of Representatives,” Kim said in an interview with POLITICO before the decision.
In that same interview, he seemed optimistic that his and others’ efforts to end the line system would have an impact.
“I believe politics in New Jersey has already changed. I think that change was already set in motion by Menendez’s indictment. But the Senate primaries and the way they came about certainly perpetuated that and are pushing that forward,” Kim said.
“But it’s not the only element we need to look at,” he added. “How do we try to work to make our democracy here in New Jersey more inclusive, more participatory and certainly more fair?”
Even before the judge’s ruling, state leaders said that given the intense criticism of the line, they would hold hearings on how to change the ballot designs. They reaffirmed that commitment Friday, suggesting that long-lasting changes should come from the Statehouse, not the courthouse.
“Nothing in the decision – or any subsequent legal decision – will change the commitment we made to a transparent process that will include a review of ballots in other states and input from the public. We remain confident that if there are constitutional issues with our During the voting process, the Legislature is the appropriate body to resolve these issues,” said a joint statement from House Speaker Craig Coughlin, Senate President Nick Scutari and the two Republican leaders, Assemblyman John DiMaio and Senator Anthony Bucco.
An appeal to Quraishi’s ruling is all but guaranteed, and a new ruling could reset the election line after the June 4 primary. Kim plans to continue the fight. “I’m going to see this through,” he said. “Again, this wasn’t just about my race.”
County clerks who wanted to maintain the county line argued that the decision came too late to make changes to the ballots. Quraishi did not accept that argument, writing that it “would not require the lengthy process” they said would happen.
“There is a lot of interest in advancing an appeals process by some clerks, and they have continued to spend a lot of taxpayer money to stop and delay this,” Kim said.