Andy Kim and Tammy Murphy spar over qualifications in first NJ Senate debate

The two leading Democratic candidates for New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat sparred Sunday night more over each other's qualifications than their policy positions.

Over 90 minutes in the primary's first debate, Rep. Andy Kim and first lady Tammy Murphy shared common ideas, including supporting a national right to abortion, increased gun safety laws and fighting to combat the effects of climate change. They disagreed on implementation for certain issues — Murphy, for example, cited Kim’s lack of support for Medicare for All legislation as a red flag, though Kim affirmed his support for universal healthcare through other methods.

The debate — hosted by On New Jersey, NJ Globe and Rider University — was the first time Kim and Murphy faced off in public since the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez. They and two other candidates — Lawrence Hamm and Patricia Campos-Medina, who did not make the debate — are seeking the Democratic nomination in June.

Kim and Murphy fielded questions ranging from aid to Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war to local issues such as health care and affordability.

Where the two disagreed primarily, however, was on the other candidate’s fitness for the role. Kim heavily criticized Tammy Murphy’s history of donating to Republican candidates — including George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush — and remaining a registered Republican after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. He questioned Murphy’s loyalty to voting with the Democratic coalition in the Senate.

She responded with her work re-building the Democratic Party since 2017, when her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, was the nominee.

“I haven't voted for a Republican in a general election in more than two decades. And you know, I've been a Democrat for 10 years,” she said. “I think you have to know my values are strong, they’re Democratic core values, and I am one who is out there every day fighting for our state and making us stronger.

In a post-debate press appearance, Kim reiterated these concerns, saying that “New Jersey voters are going to come away with a lot more questions about her Republican past.”

Early in the debate, Kim also called on Murphy to commit to sharing the highly-coveted “county line,” in which county party-endorsed candidates are grouped together on the ballot and appear more legitimate to voters. Murphy did not directly respond.

“We just saw that constantly in her debate performance, just the defense of systems,” he added.

Murphy raised her own concerns about Kim’s ability to stand up to Donald Trump, the former president and Republican front-runner for the nomination. She said that Kim was “one of only eight Democrats who has voted to help Donald Trump in several situations,” including on border security and funding. Kim responded that he had voted alongside President Joe Biden “100 percent of the time,” adding that he voted to impeach Trump twice while also representing a district he won twice.

“So it shows that we can be able to do what is right for the country," Kim said.

Affordability dominated much of the policy-centered portions of debate, including fare hikes to NJ Transit recently announced by Gov. Phil Murphy. Kim criticized the increase as a policy that “is going to hurt the most vulnerable New Jersey and the people that are already struggling, and they tell me that they feel like they're just being squeezed and it’s death from a thousand cuts. This is the wrong move to make right now.”

Murphy did not criticize her husband's fare hikes. Instead, she said that she's going to be a "relentless fighter" for federal dollars back into the transit system.