Tammy Murphy cancels New Jersey Senate campaign

CNN
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New Jersey's first lady, Tammy Murphy, announced Sunday that she is ceasing her campaign for Bob Menendez's Senate seat.

“After a busy, exhilarating, and certainly difficult few months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today,” she said. video “While I have consistently acted with integrity and based on the facts, it is clear that continuing in this race would involve running a very divisive negative campaign, which I do not want to do. there is no.”

“And with Donald Trump on the ballot and so much at stake for our country, I have no conscience to waste resources trying to bring down a fellow Democrat.” There is no,” she added.

Murphy's decision comes just days before a judge is scheduled to rule on a lawsuit aimed at curbing the influence of local powerful people over party primaries and nomination processes.

Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who is vying for a Senate seat, had asked the court for a preliminary injunction to expel the lawmaker. so-called partisan – A voting structure that allows county leaders to give priority to favored primary candidates ahead of the June 4 primary.

But the judge in the case was concerned, and the defendants also argued that the deadline was too tight to make such a change. But with Murphy's resignation, there is no urgency to work on a primary ballot design.

Kim is not expected to withdraw from the case, which has two other plaintiffs, but a decision is likely to be postponed, leaving the line open for the upcoming primary election. It seems there is.

Menendez, who faces charges of bribery and obstruction of justice, announced Thursday that he would not run for re-election in the Democratic primary, but again left open the possibility of running alone this summer. The senator forcefully denies the charges and says he will prove his innocence, claiming he is being persecuted by prosecutors.

Murphy, the wife of two-term Gov. Phil Murphy, has ties to Republican politicians and first entered her first Democratic primary in November. However, her early support in the primary suggests she may do well on her ballot, potentially giving her a decisive advantage over Kim. be.

Under a partisan system, party-backed candidates for various offices are listed in a single, prominent column on the ballot, while candidates who are not placed on the “line” are scattered across the ballot. The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 and the resulting grassroots progressive movement helped accelerate resistance to the partisan establishment, but it greatly expanded once the Murphy vs. Kim primary began. I started.

This article and heading have been updated.