Jersey City Mayor Fulop Withdraws Endorsement Of Tammy Murphy

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Amid a growing local effort to back Rep. Andy Kim in his run for Sen. Bob Menendez's seat this year, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop announced Monday that he's withdrawing his support of Tammy Murphy's campaign and instead backing Kim for the Democratic nod.

"I told @AndyKimNJ it’s not always comfortable to admit a mistake but clearly I made one here and this convention season has demonstrated he is the better candidate to represent NJ," Fulop Tweeted on Monday. "The backbone of our party volunteers and activists have spoken loudly and we should listen to them."

In a longer statement, Fulop went as far as to suggest that she drop her campaign.

"This campaign has become a catalyst for the backbone of the Democratic Party to be saying loud and clear that things need to change in New Jersey," he said. "At this point, I don't think it's in the state's best interest for Tammy to continue her campaign."

The Jersey City mayor, who himself is running for governor in 2025 when Gov. Phil Murphy leaves office, had supported Murphy's wife, Tammy, to take on Menendez for the Democratic nomination last year, after Menendez Sr. was indicted for bribery.

But Fulop, who has shown independence in politics over the years, also made positive comments about Kim last year, saying, "It's good to see a viable alternative."

Still, Fulop is also jumping on board a movement that was becoming politically inconvenient to ignore.

His neighboring mayor, Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken, has already backed Kim over Murphy — after the Hudson County Democratic Organization, the county machine, failed to endorse Bhalla's congressional run.

The HCDO has instead backed incumbent Rob Menendez Jr.'s re-election bid. (Menendez Jr., the son of Sen. Bob Menendez, was not named in the indictment.)

Rage Against The Machine

Bhalla, Fulop, Kim, and a growing number of North Jersey officials have been speaking out over the last few weeks against New Jersey's controversial "county line" system of elections, in which candidates who get the nod of the county executive or county political organization get a preferred spot on the ballot.

Kim and others will be challenging that system in federal court later today (Monday).

However, critics have noted that some of those now challenging the "county line" system and county politics have stayed silent for a number years while the county organizations endorsed them or their allies, keeping independent voices out of New Jersey office.

Hudson County Organization Backs Murphy

On Friday, the Hudson County Democratic Organization sent out a press release saying, "The Hudson County Democratic Organization is officially announcing that it will formally award its ballot line in the upcoming June Primary for U.S. Senate to Tammy Murphy. The HCDO is composed of over 1,000 democratically elected county committee members, municipal chairs, elected officials and officers.

"HCDO Chairman Anthony Vainieri was among the first county chairs to endorse the Murphy campaign in November, and now the organization will submit letters to officially bracket its candidates with her campaign to become the first woman to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Senate."

Read more recent stories about Hudson County and the line here. READ MORE: Hoboken Dem Chair Resigns From County Political Machine