U.S. Rep. Andy Kim filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking to abolish New Jersey’s unique and controversial primary ballot design as he battles First Lady Tammy Murphy for the Democratic nomination in the state’s contentious U.S. Senate race.
Under the setup, known as “the county line,” candidates that have been endorsed by the county party are grouped together on both Democratic and Republican primary ballots, with the other contenders listed to the side.
Kim’s lawsuit argues the system — the only of its kind in the U.S. — is “fundamentally unjust and undemocratic,” leading to voters being “cynically manipulated,” giving a big advantage to candidates who receive the preferential placement, and helping powerful party leaders tip elections.
The line is a cornerstone of Garden State politics and has been debated for decades. It’s the subject of a similar, long-standing lawsuit filed by failed candidates and progressive advocates.
But Kim’s new suit comes as the system faces fierce new scrutiny in his fight with Murphy, the wife of Gov. Phil Murphy, to take over the Senate seat currently held by Robert Menendez, a fellow Democrat who has been indicted on federal corruption charges and has not said whether he will run for re-election.
The line is seen as critical to Murphy’s campaign. She has been endorsed by many of New Jersey’s top Democrats, including several party chairs in counties with the largest number of Democratic voters. That gives her the edge in securing the choice ballot placement in those counties in the June 4 primary and is part of the reason Murphy has been considered the early favorite even though Kim, a three-term congressman, had a double-digit lead in the most recent poll.
Kim’s suit asks the judge to require county clerks to replace the system with a more traditional “office block” ballot design used in other states. He is seeking an emergency injunction to eliminate the setup for this primary.
In a virtual news conference Monday, Kim also accused Murphy of “weaponizing the county line and weaponizing this process to advantage her.” But he stressed the need for reform goes beyond this specific race and the goal is for it to be thrown out completely.
“New Jersey voters don’t want to be told who to vote for,” Kim said in a statement. “Jersey voters are tired of the broken politics that lets party leaders give their hand-picked candidates preferential placement on the ballot. This unfair process needs to end now.”
In response, Murphy’s team pointed out that Kim has won his congressional district three times utilizing the system and is still seeking county lines in this race.
Kim has gathered surprise momentum of late by winning three of the first four lines awarded in the contest.
“Andy Kim doesn’t have a problem with the county line system, he has a problem with the idea of losing county lines — as he is perfectly happy to participate in the process when he wins, and he has benefited from the lines in every other election he’s run,” Murphy spokesperson Alex Altman said in a statement. “This sad hypocritical stunt by DC politician Kim is just another attempt to advance his career in Washington.”
In most other states, candidates seeking a party’s nomination simply run in the primary and are grouped — or blocked — together based on the office they are seeking.
But in New Jersey, parties in 19 of 21 counties choose preferred candidates in each primary race, from president to town council, and bracket them together into one column — or line — on the ballot.
For example, the Senate candidate that wins the line this year will be listed under President Joe Biden, while the other candidates will be listed below or to the side, in places sometimes referred to as “ballot Siberia.”
The arrangement, critics say, helps the endorsed candidates grouped together appear more prominent and makes it easier for voters simply to vote down the line. A recent study by a Rutgers University professor found the line gave congressional candidates an advantage of up to 38 percentage points.
Primary ballots in New Jersey versus other states.File photos
“The system provides preferential ballot position for such candidates and displays them in a manner that nudges voters to select them, even when they otherwise might not,” says Kim’s lawsuit, filed alongside congressional candidates Sarah Schoengood and Carolyn Rush.
“By contrast, their opponents are often excluded from a chance at preferential ballot placement, displayed in a column by themselves or in a manner that is less appealing to or harder to find for voters, separated by one or more blank ballot spaces from their opponents, stacked in a column with candidates for other offices with whom they do not want to be associated, and/or otherwise strewn about haphazardly on the ballot.”
Opponents of the system also say it helps keep machine politics in power, benefits incumbents, and shuts out more diverse candidates.
Supporters counter that the line allows voters to clearly see which candidate the party endorses and helps ensure stronger nominees.
Critics say the power of her husband’s office has played a key role in Tammy Murphy getting support from county party leaders. Several party chairs hold state jobs or state contracts. Both the first lady and the governor have strongly disputed claims of nepotism.
Kim and two other Democrats running in the primary, labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm, publicly called for the line to be thrown out earlier this month. Murphy has declined to join them, saying during a recent debate “we are all running in the same system right now” and she will “earn every single vote I get by working hard.”
Despite the existing lawsuit challenging the line, Kim said his suit was necessary because the older one is “moving at a slow pace.” This, he said, is “a chance for us to have progress done” quickly because the upcoming primary is three months from now.
Kim said he has previously sought lines and is seeking them in this race because the system “forces you to participate.” But he said he never “experienced it” in “full force” until this election.
“Never in my lifetime have I seen this much attention to some of the broken parts of our politics, including the county line,” Kim said.
He stressed that this is “not power people are just going to give up voluntarily.”
“This is something that is so entrenched in our politics in New Jersey,” Kim said. “They’re not going to change this unless the courts tell them to.”
The lawsuit comes after Kim this weekend won the lines in Burlington — his home county — and Hunterdon counties, two weeks after winning the line in Monmouth County, Murphy’s home county. Local delegates voted via secret ballot to award those endorsements.
In Hunterdon, the county chair proposed a last-minute rule change that would have allowed Kim and Murphy to share the line. But angry delegates voted it down.
Political experts have characterized Kim’s victories in those largely suburban counties as the result of a grassroots revolt against the state’s Democratic establishment.
Still, several vote-rich counties where Murphy has been endorsed by party leaders are set to determine their lines in the coming weeks: Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Somerset, and Union. Some hold secret-ballot voting. In others, the support of the county chairs carries significant heft.
Thus, nixing the line could be a blow to Murphy and give Kim a boost with rank-and-file voters in those counties.
Meanwhile, Kim on Sunday also secured the endorsement of the National Organization for Women, even though both Murphy and Campos-Medina are vying to become the first woman from New Jersey to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Earlier this month, Murphy was endorsed of EMILY’s list, the national group that backs pro-choice candidates. On Sunday, she nabbed the backing of former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.
Stories by Brent Johnson
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.