US Senate candidate and current Congressman Andy Kim is fighting to take down the so-called Party Line even as he racks up endorsements from it Kim filed a federal lawsuit today over New Jersey's ballot design that groups candidates in a column known as the county line rather than by the office for which they're running the congressman wants a judge to strike down the line in time for the June 2024 primary pushing back against the very establishment that just this weekend threw their support to him this weekend Kim picked up two more of the coveted County Democratic party endorsements in hunon and Burlington counties he already got Mammoth County Democrats blessing at their recent convention that makes three to rival first lady Tammy Murphy's one County Line although she's got a slew of endorsements from powerful Party leaders in areas with high populations of democratic voters Kim's Landslide weekend is just the latest blow to Murphy in the battle to take the senate seat senior political correspond David Cruz reports as bad campaign weeks go first lady Tammy Murphy's past week was right up there in the course of less than seven days the Senate candidate saw her campaign manager exit saw Andy Kim win the endorsement of the National Organization for Women pack and oh yeah lose three secret ballot conventions I think there are very ominous signs for her analyst Micah Ras Muson States the theme for a campaign that is reeling from its own missteps but perhaps more so from the times themselves with so much attention paid to how party bosses controlled candidate selection via the party line and a sense that two Murphy's in Statewide office is at least one too many the first lady's less than convincing public appearances have made it seem like it's getting late early anytime there's a vote of Democrats and it's a real vote among Democrats she can't crack 40% now this is the third County and so um it's it's a very ominous sign and you know I I don't know that it's soul searching time yet but I I certainly think that she's got to be thinking this isn't going the way I thought it was going to go but the losses in Burlington Hunton and Mammoth were not entirely unexpected Kim represents Burlington mammoth in Congress and former Congressman Tom malinowski a prominent Kim supporter hails from hunterton also those counties make up less than 6% of democratic voters a week from today Democrats in Bergen County with the state's largest collection of Democrats will convene for a secret ballot vote politicals Daniel Han has been covering the conventions closely the first lady still enjoys institutional support from a lot of U Party leaders in in counties where the endorsement process is much more topped down um and that alone if it if it still holds together that could be enough to still have her be the Democratic nominee come June if Kim work to win Bergen that would throw the first ladies campaign strategy into a disarray because then uh Kim would have would be favored to have uh organizational party lines in uh in much of the state perhaps even being equal to the to the advantage that the first lady would have but Dan Bryan a veteran of the other Murphy's two gubernatorial races and the chief strategist for this Murphy's campaign says they're right where they expect it to be listen if you look at where Tammy Murphy is putting together her Coalition of support it is largely voters of color and women um which by the way tends to be the Coalition that wins Democratic primaries um and we're really excited about the counties that we have coming up not only Bergen County this week but Union County uh still many more counties to go including Hudson Essex middle sex Etc Somerset uh Mercer so a a lot more of the game to be played um and we are we are playing our game I think our path to Victory is exactly the same uh that it is today as it was the day we launched there is still plenty of time to redirect momentum and change The Narrative of this campaign but the way things have been going so far Bergen County is shaping up to be a must-win for Murphy and for that matter for Andy Kim as well I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news