TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey first girl Tammy Murphy on Wednesday launched a bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in subsequent 12 months’s contest.
Her candidacy, introduced Wednesday, places her within the operating to turn out to be the primary girl elected to the Senate from New Jersey. The Democratic main already options Rep. Andy Kim and will embrace Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has misplaced vital get together assist amid federal bribery costs however has not dominated out a run in 2024.
“We need a senator who will work every single day to lower the cost of living, protect abortion rights, end the gun violence epidemic, and defend our democracy,” she mentioned in a roughly four-minute-long video posted on-line.
Murphy, 58, is a continuing at occasions alongside her husband, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, and has taken on maternal and toddler well being and the surroundings as her prime points throughout her time as first girl – points she highlighted in her announcement.
A Virginia native, and University of Virginia graduate, Tammy Murphy labored in finance at Goldman Sachs alongside Phil Murphy earlier than the couple settled in New Jersey. They have 4 youngsters.
Democrats picked up not less than 5 seats within the Assembly on this 12 months’s midterm legislative elections, a boon for the governor who’s within the last two years of his second time period.
Those successes may translate into important county assist for the primary girl, who campaigned alongside the governor to extend their get together’s legislative majorities. A lot of key county get together chairmen set candidate poll positions, and assist from the county get together incessantly results in electoral success.
Murphy is well-known in New Jersey’s political circles. Before the governor’s first run for workplace in 2017, she labored to arrange a suppose tank he used to showcase coverage concepts. She is the honorary chair of the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy and launched Nurture NJ, an initiative geared toward boosting toddler and maternal well being and reducing maternal mortality, with a objective of reducing maternal mortality by 50% by 2026.
A former Republican, Tammy Murphy has spoken about rising up in a GOP-leaning space of Virginia and has beforehand donated to that get together. She turned a Democrat earlier than her husband’s run for workplace.
Tammy Murphy was named in a gender discrimination lawsuit this 12 months introduced by state troopers who labored on the element accountable for offering safety for the governor. The go well with alleges that Tammy Murphy denied a trooper using a carriage home on Murphy’s property to pump breast milk.
In an announcement this week, she denied the allegations as “outrageous and categorically false.”
Menendez has pleaded not responsible to federal costs. Prosecutors have mentioned the senator and his spouse, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes of money, gold bars and a luxurious automotive over the previous 5 years from three New Jersey businessmen in change for a wide range of corrupt acts. He’s additionally accused of being an unregistered agent on behalf of Egypt.
He hasn’t mentioned whether or not he’ll search reelection in 2024 however mentioned after being indicted that he’s “not going anywhere.” He was first appointed to the Senate seat in 2006 after the emptiness attributable to Jon Corzine’s election as governor of New Jersey. Menendez has since received three elections to the Senate.
Kim, a three-term consultant from the state’s third District, introduced his candidacy only a day after the corruption costs towards Menendez, saying he believed New Jersey deserved higher.
Menendez’s indictment led to a collapse of Democratic assist within the state for him.
