Andy Kim is suing to block preferential treatment on ballots in the Senate race

Representative Andy Kim, a Democrat running for Senate in New Jersey, against the state’s first lady, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday that seeks to reshape the ballot ahead of June’s controversial primaries, arguing the current format unfairly benefits candidates backed by party leaders.

The complaint seeks to overturn New Jersey’s longstanding ballot design process, which is unique to the state, by claiming it violates the Constitution and allows voters to be “cynically manipulated.”

The legal maneuver is a direct attack on the governor’s wife, Tammy Murphy, who is Kim’s main opponent in the Democratic primary and who is likely to benefit most from the way ballots have traditionally been designed in 19 of the country’s 21 counties. the state.

And it will certainly fuel the public debate about the use of “the line”, the preferential voting position that allows party leaders to place their preferred candidates across all races in a prominent column or row. Unendorsed candidates appear to the side, in a nearby row, or at the edge of the ballot, a location commonly referred to as “ballot Siberia.”

“New Jersey’s bracket-ballot system distorts New Jersey elections, providing a substantial but arbitrary advantage to bracketed candidates,” Mr. Kim’s lawyers said in the lawsuit.

He has asked a federal judge to require county clerks to instead group all candidates running for the same office together on the ballot.

Mr. Kim and Ms. Murphy will compete June 4 for the Democratic nomination for the seat now occupied by Senator Robert Menendez, who has been accused of taking bribes in the form of cash, gold and a luxury car in exchange for political favors and has not done so. excluded from re-election.

With the support of her husband, Governor Philip D. Murphy, Mrs. Murphy has garnered the support of a range of influential Democratic Party leaders, including many who have financial incentives to remain in the governor’s good graces. These endorsements typically result in a spot on the line in voter-rich counties in northern New Jersey, where party leaders have major influence in the primaries.

A professor at Rutgers University concluded that placement along the line of candidates for Congress gives an advantage 38 percentage points.

Mr. Kim said in an interview that Ms. Murphy had used her position as the wife of a governor with two years left in his term — and two budgets to write and pass — to “weaponize the system.”

Still, he said the lawsuit was “not just about this race.”

“It’s about ending an unjust system,” he said.

Ms. Murphy, a first-time candidate with limited experience, has raised money faster than Mr. Kim since entering the race in November, but she has struggled to gain support among mainstream voters. The first independent poll in the race showed Mr. Kim ahead of Ms. Murphy by 12 percentage points.

Last week, Ms. Murphy’s campaign manager resigned, signaling the candidate was trying to overhaul her strategy after a rocky start.

Mr. Kim, 41, has been in Congress since 2019 and has held the coveted provincial post in recent election cycles. But earlier this month, he and the two other Democrats running for Senate, Larry Hamm and Patricia Campos-Medina, sent letters to county clerks asking them to voluntarily change the ballot design.

Mr. Kim, noting his advantage as an incumbent congressman, said less prominent candidates had virtually no chance in a contested primary.

“I am a three-term incumbent candidate polling in double digits, yet I am still often referred to as the underdog,” Mr. Kim said. “Imagine someone else who doesn’t necessarily have the experience I’ve had campaigning.”

In a debate last week, Ms Murphy, 58, said she was sticking to the rules that currently existed and was not in favor of changing them midway.

“If improvements need to be made,” she said, “let’s make the improvements. But right now we are in the middle of a campaign and let’s just continue with the basic rules as we have them.”

Her campaign had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

If Mr. Kim successfully persuades a judge to change the ballot design, he risks undermining some of the gains from his early momentum.

Last weekend he won the Democratic Party conventions Burlington And Hunterdon Provinces. And earlier this month, he defeated Ms. Murphy in Monmouth County, where the first lady and governor have lived for 25 years. As an approved candidate, Mr. Kim has the right to run in any of the provinces.

However, Ms. Murphy has won significant support in the populous Democratic bastions closest to New York City and Philadelphia — Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union Counties — where there are many more voters, giving her an edge where it counts most in primary breeds.

It is unclear whether Mr. Kim will be able to convince a judge to take up the constitutional challenge, as there are less than two months to go before the primaries are due to be printed.

A similar federal challenge to abolish the line was filed in 2021, backed by the left-wing parties. Working Families Alliance. Leaders of the Democratic and Republican Parties, who derive much of their power from maintaining the current voting system, oppose changing the county structure.

That lawsuit survived an early round of judicial investigationand the parties prepare discovery materials prior to trial.

Monday’s complaint was filed by the same attorneys who filed suit in 2021: Brett M. Pugach and Yael Bromberg.