A federal judge’s ruling Friday that should change New Jersey ballots isn’t going to make party bosses happy, but it may give those candidates running without their party’s blessings a little better chance in future elections.
At least they won’t be (as) disadvantaged.
The ruling could have a profound effect in Upper Township, where newcomers Zach Palombo and cousin Sam Palombo secured the GOP endorsement and party line against incumbent Republicans Mayor Jay Newman and Deputy Mayor Kim Hayes.
U.S. Rep. Andy Kim is behind the successful challenge; he petitioned in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey because of the way ballot designs in the Garden State have favored the candidates supported by political party leaders. He went after the design because he was facing Tammy Murphy, Gov. Phil Murphy’s spouse, in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat now held by multiple indictee Sen. Robert Menendez.
Tammy Murphy had been winning the endorsement of party bosses in a number of counties. That would have given her an advantage because she would have been grouped prominently with candidates who got the same party blessing, leaving Kim, and other primary challengers off to the side. In other words, party-endorsed candidates get the best position and others are shunted off to what some have called ballot Siberia.
This was the second part of good news for Kim. The first part was Tammy Murphy dropping out of the race, saying she didn’t want a divisive primary forcing her to denigrate a fellow Democrat. Whether it was that or bad polling news, who knows.
This decision also seems to be good news for all the candidates who don’t get their party’s blessings. A new design, which seems to make a lot more sense, would have all the candidates for a specific office grouped together, negating the positional edge.
Of course, this isn’t going to make political bosses and political machines happy because they’re going to lose an advantage.
CapeGOP Chairman Mike Donohue was quick to weigh in on this, blasting the decision for “trampling the freedom of political association of all New Jerseyans” and calling it “an outrageous destruction of our freedom of association” as protected by the First Amendment.
Donohue was referring to that freedom of association of names on a ballot.
The ruling doesn’t limit the actual freedom of association of members of a political party and it doesn’t stop political parties from actively supporting their chosen candidates.
However, his outrage is likely shared by party leaders on the other side of the political spectrum, namely the powerful bosses and well-financed machines in the heavily populated and heavily Democratic counties that dominate New Jersey politics. They can’t be happy either. (Cape May County is one of the outliers dominated by Republicans.)
The federal judge has ordered an immediate redesign of ballots with the primary two months away. Kim has called it a victory fixing an undemocratic system that gave the advantage to party bosses instead of to voters.
If the redesign comes through, we won’t have to wait long after the primary to know the impact of the judge’s decision.