Gov. Phil Murphy offers praise for Tammy Murphy's Senate run, says the county line works

After New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, the governor said Tuesday that he’s “incredibly proud of her.”

At an unrelated event, Gov. Phil Murphy said his wife had entered the race for the “right reasons” and “stood for the right things.”

“She worked her tail off. It was a really tough decision for her,” Murphy said. “It's very few people in this line of business who put party over herself, and that's exactly what she did. Incredibly, incredibly proud of her.”

The first lady had been battling Rep. Andy Kim to represent the Democrats in a bid for the seat held by Sen. Bob Menendez.

The county line and Kim's lawsuit

Kim had filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the controversial county-line ballot design used in New Jersey.

It alleges that New Jersey's ballot design creates an unfair advantage for the candidate awarded the line, or the first position on the ballot. The clerks from all 19 counties that use the county-line ballot design are named as defendants. Kim called for the block system, which is used by every other state in the nation and two New Jersey counties, to be implemented statewide.

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The governor said that although his wife has spoken to Kim since she made her decision, he has not done so, noting that there are three Democrats still vying for the nomination.

Though the first lady is no longer in the race, Kim has said he will continue with the suit. Attorney General Matthew Platkin went against the norm by issuing a letter that said he didn’t intend to defend the line in court because he viewed it as “unconstitutional.”

What did Governor Murphy say about the line?

Murphy would not comment on ongoing litigation, though he did note that “up until recently, it had been the practice of our attorney general to defend statute” and that while he is “open-minded to tweaking the system if there's an opportunity to make it better,” he thinks the line has “worked pretty well.”

“If progressives were out there trying to look at whether or not they got a good government over the past 6½ years. I'd like them to find a more progressive government in America than what they got the past 6½ years, with yours truly elected twice on the line in both cases,” Murphy said.

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Phil Murphy says NJ ballots with county line design 'work'