From left, Patricia Campos-Medina, Larry Hamm, and Rep. Andy Kim participate in a debate at the South Orange Performing Arts Center on May 13, 2024. (Photo courtesy of ACLU of New Jersey)
Polls are open in New Jersey, and for the first time in decades, no Democratic primary voter will see a ballot with the county line.
Though few of the primaries are competitive, Tuesday’s elections will present a study of how New Jersey elections work without its longtime, unique ballot design, one that grouped candidates based on whether they received the support of party leaders. Courts have found that ballot design, which critics say allows party leaders to pick primary winners, is likely unconstitutional and have barred its use in Democratic contests this June.
Democratic primaries will instead use what’s called office-block ballots, which group candidates by the office they’re seeking.
With the county line paused and first lady Tammy Murphy gone from the race to succeed Sen. Bob Menendez, Rep. Andy Kim (D-03) appears a clear favorite in that contest’s Democratic primary.
Kim’s opponents are labor activist Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Larry Hamm. Menendez, facing corruption charges in federal court, is not seeking reelection as a Democrat (he filed paperwork Monday to run as an independent in November).
The Republican Senate contest is likely to be a little closer. There, hotelier Curtis Bashaw and Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner are vying for the chance to run for a seat their party last won in 1972.
Bashaw has outraised his opponent nearly three-to-one and has won a majority of the state’s Republican county lines, including in the GOP stronghold of Ocean County, the largest single source of Republican primary votes in the state.
But those advantages aren’t enough to foreclose the contest in his favor. Serrano Glassner has one major one: an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
While that endorsement may well be an albatross in November in Trump-wary New Jersey — Trump hasn’t crossed 42% of the vote in New Jersey during his two runs for the White House — it is likely to prove a boon for Serrano Glassner in the primary.
Menendez v. Bhalla
In the Hudson County-centered 8th District, Rep. Rob Menendez faces challenges in the Democratic primary from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and Kyle Jasey, a real estate lender and son of former Assemblywoman Mila Jasey.
Though Democratic leaders in Hudson County quickly shed support for New Jersey’s senior senator after he was charged with bribery and other crimes, they’ve stood by his son as he seeks a second term in Congress. The strength of that support remains untested absent a county line.
Bhalla has made the elder Menendez’s legal woes a cornerstone of his campaign — there is no suggestion the younger Menendez has any connection to the allegations facing his father — also raising nepotism accusations that have dogged the congressman since he began his first congressional campaign two years ago.
Rep. Menendez has responded by rolling out wave after wave of endorsements from prominent Democratic groups and officials, including Gov. Phil Murphy and Sen. Cory Booker, among numerous others.
Last week, Menendez launched an ad that touted his congressional record while charging that Bhalla’s attacks on his father are motivated by fear of a loss on Tuesday.
Jasey has lagged in fundraising and garnered little of the public support enjoyed by his two opponents, though luck left him with at least one advantage — his name appears first on the ballot.
The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is all but assured to win in November.
3rd District
Two former running mates will face off in the Democratic contest to run for Kim’s House seat in November.
In the 3rd District, Assemblyman Herb Conaway and Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, both Burlington County Democrats, will face each other as well as civil rights attorney Joe Cohn, small business owner Sarah Schoengood, and teacher Brian Schkeeper.
Conaway leads the race in fundraising — though it’s still a low-dollar race when compared to the 8th District — and has the backing of Burlington County Democrats.
Cohn and Murphy have each reported raising about one-third as much as Conaway, while Schoengood and Schkeeper have struggled to resource their campaigns.
Though the party organization itself is staying out of the contest in deference to the two sitting Burlington County lawmakers, the majority of the Burlington County Democratic Committee voted to endorse Conaway, and individual members are not bound by the organization’s neutrality.
There’s little difference in the Democratic candidates’ policy priorities — health care or drug affordability is a priority for each of them — and the nominee’s victory in November is far from assured.
While the 3rd District grew slightly more Democratic when its boundaries were last redrawn, the district has seen partisan control shift more than any other in the state over the last decade.
On the Republican side, physician Rajesh Mohan faces immigration consultant Shirley Maia-Cusick.
Mohan has key support from some of the district’s GOP leaders, though Maia-Cusick has a cash advantage, having outraised Mohan nearly 3-to-1. Both candidates’ fundraising figures come with a caveat: Much of their money came from their own pockets. Maia Cusick loaned her campaign $273,000, or about 80% of all her fundraising through May 15. At $60,000, Mohan’s loans are smaller, but they still account for 48% of his fundraising.
Republicans Gregory Sobocinski and Michael Francis Faccone are also running.
Other races
The winners of the state’s two presidential primaries are assured to be President Biden and Donald Trump, but progressive activists are hoping voters will send Biden a message on the war in Gaza by voting uncommitted.
Unease in the Democratic Party over Biden’s support of Israel has led to nearly half a million nationwide heading to the polls and pointedly not voting for Biden, winning at least 25 delegates for the Democratic Party’s national convention in August. Organizers of the “vote uncommitted” effort in New Jersey say they reject the idea that they must vote “for the lesser of two evils.”
Gaza is a focal point in the 8th District Democratic primary, too, where Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah is challenging Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. Khairullah says Pascrell has turned his back on his Muslim constituents by supporting Israel. Pascrell’s calls for a cease-fire in Gaza were late and insufficient, Khairullah says.
The late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. remains on the ballot in the state’s overwhelmingly Democratic 10th District (he is unopposed). The district’s Democratic committee people will meet to elect a replacement and must do so by Aug. 29. Campaigns for a Sept. 18 special election to fill the remainder of Payne’s unexpired term are already underway (that primary is July 16.)
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