This time last year, New Jersey’s county conventions were must-watch affairs like Iowa and New Hampshire are in presidential elections.
Then-Rep. Andy Kim was battling first lady Tammy Murphy for Bob Menendez’s Senate seat following his corruption indictment. It was a bruising contest pitting New Jersey’s political machinery against grassroots Democrats — and ultimately led to the collapse of the state’s unique “county line” ballot design, which gave party-backed candidates a better spot on the ballot.
Now many of the candidates running in one of the nation’s premier races for governor are ditching conventions and making direct appeals to primary voters, leaving party bosses on the sidelines…
“The fact that so many people are choosing not to go through the process really highlights just how powerful the county line itself is in determining who wins the primary, putting aside all that other stuff,” said Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers professor whose research was cited in overturning the line. “The candidates feel like they can afford to do this now. They don’t have to drop out if they’re not the favorite daughter or son, and they don’t have to go through the process of getting endorsed.”