Tammy Murphy, Andy Kim on opposite sides of push to ban TikTok

The national debate over whether to ban TikTok has revealed a rare policy disagreement between Rep. Andy Kim and first lady Tammy Murphy, the front-runners in the Democratic race to succeed Sen. Bob Menendez.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday on a bill to ban the app — owned by Chinese company Bytedance — or force its owners to sell to an American company, and New Jersey’s delegation voted unanimously in favor, except for Kim, who wasn’t in Washington, D.C., for the vote.

Kim told the New Jersey Monitor in a statement from his office that he would have voted against the measure, saying there are more steps and deliberations needed before moving forward with a ban.

“If we are concerned about what TikTok can do with accessing and controlling Americans’ data, I’m concerned about what any corporation or entity can do with it. I previously called on my colleagues in Congress to take a comprehensive approach instead of this piecemeal effort to protect data privacy writ large and address the serious concerns about the public safety risks of social media,” he said.

Murphy, in her own statement, took a shot at Kim for not only breaking with his party to oppose the bill but also for missing Wednesday’s vote. A Kim spokeswoman said he was in New Jersey Wednesday.

“Allowing a platform with the massive reach and influence of TikTok to remain in control of an adversarial foreign government presents a real threat to national security, but instead of joining every other Democrat in New Jersey’s Congressional delegation and taking action, Andy Kim couldn’t be bothered to show up and vote,” said Murphy campaign spokeswoman Alex Altman.

The Murphy campaign said this brings Kim’s congressional absentee rate to about 40% in 2024. Kim campaign spokeswoman Katey Sabo did not dispute that figure.

“We appreciate the opportunity to remind people that Congressman Kim has taken approximately 2,700 votes in Congress and has a 98% attendance record, one of the highest in Congress, as he fights to lower prescription drug costs for seniors, combat climate change, fight corruption, and pursue a progressive agenda for change,” Sabo said.

Murphy and Kim — the front-runners in the four-person race to win the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in June — have argued more over the county line than policy while on the campaign trail. Both have relatively similar policy positions, like protecting abortion federally and a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants.

Menendez, a Democrat who was indicted in September on federal corruption charges, does not appear to be running for reelection in November.

The Murphy campaign did not respond to a request for additional comment. The campaign appears to have an active TikTok account that began posting two weeks ago.

The federal legislation, named the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, now heads to the Senate. It’s unclear whether it has the support to advance to President Joe Biden’s desk. Biden has said he would sign it.