Dem
51
GOP
49
Tammy Murphy, wife of Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ), has dropped out of the race to succeed the indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). She surprised everyone by entering the race in the first place and is now surprising everyone by dropping out. If her popular husband had run, he would probably have won, but Tammy has never served in elected office before and wasn't a great candidate. She saw the handwriting on the wall and it said: "GET OUT."
Murphy was running against Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), who can now begin measuring the drapes for his new Senate office. He is the grassroots candidate and Murphy was the establishment candidate. The grassroots won this round. There has not been a single poll of the race that gave Kim less than a 10-point lead, and some had him up more than 20. Maybe the people of New Jersey felt that Murphy was feeling a wee bit entitled just because she was married to a very wealthy governor.
Menendez is a crook and saw that he had no chance to win the primary, so he is not running for the Democratic nomination. He will be very lucky if he can avoid prison. (V)