Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has revoked his endorsement of New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy, urging her to drop out of the heated primary race for Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) Senate seat.
Fulop is now endorsing Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) instead, saying it is now “clear” to him that his earlier endorsement of Murphy was wrong. Menendez has not said if he will run for reelection in the wake of his indictments.
“I was an early supporter of Tammy Murphy for Senate, but it’s no secret I’ve been disappointed with the campaign and how it has been conducted,” he said in a statement provided to the New Jersey Globe. “I’ve expressed that over the last two months repeatedly both privately and publicly, and, at this point, it’s clear to me that I was wrong with my early support and endorsement of Tammy Murphy for Senate.”
The mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, said he believes Kim is “the better candidate, with a clearer message, and he brings a better chance of success in November.”
“At this point, I don’t think it’s in the state’s best interest for Tammy to continue her campaign. As the Mayor of Jersey City, I’ll do what I think is right and advocate for Andy Kim to my constituents as the best choice as the next U.S. Senator,” Fulop said.
Fulop was one of many elected officials who offered an endorsement of Murphy in the race immediately, even though she has never held elected office. His change of heart comes after Kim lost a key county convention to Murphy in Bergen County earlier this month.
According to a Monmouth University poll released in early March, Kim had a much higher favorability rating than Murphy despite having less name recognition than the state’s first lady.
Kim had a 48% favorable rating and a 2% unfavorable rating, while 24% expressed no opinion and 26% reported they were not familiar with him, according to the poll. In comparison, Murphy received a 24% favorable rating and a 13% unfavorable rating, while 50% have no opinion of her and only 13% have not heard of her.
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Multiple candidates are running for the seat held by Menendez, who is facing federal corruption charges. Menendez and his wife were initially indicted in September on allegations that they accepted bribes from New Jersey businessmen to benefit the Egyptian government and were recently charged with extortion and obstruction of justice, adding to the previous charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery.
As of last week, Menendez did not rule out the potential of running for his Senate seat as an independent following reports the indicted politician was considering the option.
The state will hold its primary on June 4.