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Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) easily won the Ocean County Democratic convention today, giving him his sixth organization line in his bid for U.S. Senate in a county that he represented during his first four years in the House.
Kim defeated Tammy Murphy, 197-31, (86%-13%), with activist Patricia Campos-Medina finishing third with two votes. Two other candidates, former Newark school board member Lawrence Hamm and newcomer Patrick James Merrill, did not participate in the Ocean convention.
Indicted incumbent Bob Menendez has not yet announced if he will seek a fourth term in the U.S. Senate. He had not yet begun to gather petition signatures in advance of the March 25 filing deadline, and has not participated in county conventions or screening committees.
This stops Murphy’s two-county winning streak. After winning secret ballot convention votes in Monmouth, Burlington, Hunterdon, Sussex, and Warren, Kim lost to Murphy in Bergen and Somerset.
Kim had scored pre-convention endorsements from Democrats in Toms River, Berkeley, Stafford, Lacey, Manchester, Barnegat, Beachwood, Point Pleasant Beach, South Toms River, and Surf City.
“The last time I saw you in this room was six years ago. I was showing up for the convention as a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, pushing a stroller of my newborn baby and unsure what was going to happen next – because how many times have we heard that a Democrat can’t win here in Ocean County?” Kim asked. “But you believed in me. You took a chance on me. You took a chance on me six years ago. And I’m asking you to take a chance on me again.”
Murphy laid out her rationale for seeking a Senate seat: abortion, guns, climate change, mental health and learning losses during COVID-19, and wars on two different continents.
“I am running because I am deeply, deeply concerned about the world that we are handing over to the next generation,” she said. “As a mother of four who brings tremendous things to get stuff done. I’ll bring that Jersey grit to Washington, D.C.”
The Ocean County Democratic organization line will also go to former prosecutor Tim Alexander in the 2nd district and small businessman Matt Jenkins in the 4th. Citing “the high quality of all three candidates,” the county’s screening committee did not recommend any candidate for the 2nd district.
Alexander defeated businessman Joe Salerno, 51-18 (67%%-24%), in his bid for a recount with three-term incumbent Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis). Carolyn Rush finished third with 7 votes (9%).
Rush is one of Kim’s two co-plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of organization lines. Rush lost the 2022 primary to Alexander by a 62%-38% margin.
“Well, I’m back,” said Jenkins, who won 31% of the vote against Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Manchester) two years ago. He said he wanted to stop Smith’s “43 years of trying to take away the rights of women.”
Jenkins, who won the Monmouth County Democratic convention last month, defeated author and LGBTQ activist Pam Daniels, a former NJ 101.5 news director and aide to Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in the 133 to 28 (83%-17%).
While Ocean is a GOP stronghold, the total number of votes cast in the 2020 Democratic primary ranked 11th in the state, more than counties that are solidly Democratic, like Somerset and Passaic. Four years ago, Ocean County produced 43,469 votes, with 44% of Democrats turning in an all-VBM primary. In 2016, 36,887 Democrats voted in the primary election, with turnout at 49%.
Turnout among Ocean County Democrats in a presidential year – even if the nomination is clinched – is significantly higher.
As a point of comparison, Ocean turned out 15,938 Democrats in the 2021 primary, 17,513 in 2022, and 14,181 in 2023.
“I am so thankful to everyone who showed up today and to Chairman Wyatt Earp for running a convention that let the delegates vote their conscience with secret ballots and free from machine politics pressure,” stated Kim. “Ocean County Democrats know the challenges of going up against Republicans and know that I would be by far the strongest general election candidate for the Democrats that can help lift up candidates in tough races up and down the ballot and across the state.”
In addition to Bergen and Somerset, Murphy has won party endorsements in Passaic and Union, where a party screening committee awards the line.
This story was updated at 4:54 with comment from Kim.
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