Murphy Wins NJ Democratic Primary

[RandySF]

A wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive and Obama administration ambassador has won the Democratic nomination in the race to replace unpopular term-limited Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Phil Murphy defeated five rivals in one of only two statewide races in the country. His victory means he will take on the winner of Tuesday's Republican primary in November.

Murphy was an ambassador to Germany under Democratic President Barack Obama. He poured more than $20 million into the contest and won endorsements from the state's powerful county political machines.

He promised to check Republican President Donald Trump if elected and to fully fund the state's pension system, ramp up education spending and rejoin a regional greenhouse gas alliance.

Murphy survived attacks from top rivals that compared him to former Gov. Jon Corzine (KOHR'-zyn), another one-time Goldman Sachs executive.


https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-jersey/articles/2017-06-06/the-latest-wall-street-trump-play-in-governors-race

[still_one]

1. This is what the Democrats in New Jersey decided. Let's win this

[stillsoleft]

2. Wasn't a fair playing field, but whatever

Can't get rid of Christie soon enough

[still_one]

3. That is the bottom line

[Jim Lane]

4. Absolutely not a fair playing field.

Christie is term limited. He'll be out of office by next January regardless of what happens (earlier if he resigns to take a job in the Trump administration).

Our eagerness to see Christie gone shouldn't obscure the serious concern about the role of money in our elections. The multimillionaire Murphy poured his own money into the race. His spending swamped that of all his rivals plus all the Republicans, combined. To call it "buying the election" might suggest there was bribery, which AFAIK there was not, but that phrase does point to a real problem.

[Demsrule86]

6. The people have spoken. It is a done deal. And any Democrat is better

than any Republican...let's win this.

[Hortensis]

18. Yes. And ONLY Democrats will get the huge corruption

of big money out of politics. Because, as a very prominent political scientist pointed out, even though Democrats also like the perks that come with their offices, (very unlike conservatives) almost all do believe in using government to serve the electorate. They want to do that.

And before that can happen, they have to get enough power to overcome the enormous forces against them.

So, good. On the the general. And thank you, Gov Christie, for all the assistance you've given us so far.

[Demsrule86]

8. How is it not fair? The people voted.

The reason we have money in elections is because some left of left Greenies led by Nader allowed Bush to win in 2000 which gave rise to United. There is nothing we can do about it until we get enough power to fix this...good thing this guy has money with all the dark money coming against him from the GOP and possibly the Russians.

[Jim Lane]

15. Your blaming the Greens is 100% wrong (at least in this instance)

First, because this topic is so fraught with emotion for so many people, let me make clear that I'm not one of those enemies that some people jump to hate. I've never donated to or voted for a Green Party candidate in my life. Furthermore, I have quite a few posts on DU condemning Nader's decision to run in the general election instead of in the Democratic primaries.

That said, the 2000 election and the Citizens United decision had absolutely nothing to do with Phil Murphy's ability to swamp his opponents with money. Murphy is a former Goldman Sachs executive whose personal wealth is believed to be several hundred million dollars. He used his own money for his direct campaign spending and in spreading money around elsewhere in New Jersey in ways that gained him support. I haven't heard that he benefited from any corporate money being directed to "independent" expenditures, the subject of Citizens United. What he did would have been perfectly legal even if Citizens United had been decided 9-0 the other way.

I also haven't heard about any "dark money coming against him from the GOP and possibly the Russians." It's not likely to be a problem. Any of Murphy's principal opponents (Johnson, Wisniewski, or Lesniak) would have been a heavy favorite against any of the Republican candidates, even if Putin had decided that he cared who was in Drumthwacket.

As an aside, I disagree with those who dismiss any investigation of Russian activities as a "witch hunt"; but, at the other extreme, I also disagree with invoking the specter of Russian influence in every discussion, whether or not there's any evidence. My guess is that Putin has never even heard of Drumthwacket. (It's the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey.)

ETA about Murphy's spending to counter GOP "dark money": Murphy has stated that, in the general election (unlike the primary), he'll accept public matching funds and the associated spending limit. See this story for details. That means that Murphy will be spending LESS against the Republican nominee than he did against his fellow Democrats.

[Demsrule86]

9. I do hope you agree that the goal is to elect a Democrat...the Christie

is out of office anyway...kind of disturbing.

[Jim Lane]

16. I'm sorry if you were disturbed by the facts.

People not familiar with New Jersey politics might say that criticism of the primary process should be kept in perspective because the Democratic Party has now picked its challenger to Christie. That was my (possibly mistaken) interpretation of stillsoleft's comment in #2 ("Can't get rid of Christie soon enough&quot . I was simply correcting an error that some people might understandably make. Chris Christie is term limited and won't be on the ballot.

It would be kind of nice for us if he WEREN'T term limited. Murphy will probably beat the Republican candidate, Lieutenant Governor Guadagno, but a candidate picked at random out of the phone book could have beaten Christie this year.

[RandySF]

10. Don't forget

That many people in NJ work in the NY financial sector.

[tallahasseedem]

14. Precisely...

Some here would benefit by looking up North Jersey demographics and the term "Bedroom State".

[Jim Lane]

19. Sorry, I'm not following the relevance.

If you mean that Murphy's enormous spending was fueled by donations from wealthy New Jersey residents who work in the New York financial sector, that's not the case. He used mostly his own money.

If you mean that some voters considered his past association with Goldman Sachs to be a plus, I'm sure that's true but not very important. It was a plus with some voters, a minus with others, but neither group was very large.

[hrmjustin]

27. The point is a lot of Democrats in NJ work in the financial sector.

It is not seen as big as a liability in the Tri-state area as it would in other states.

[seaglass]

11. Bernie's son Levi was an early endorser of Murphy and Bernie stayed out of the race. Levi was not

undercutting Bernie:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2017/04/levi-sanders-speaks-on-campus

When asked why he had endorsed Murphy instead of John Wisniewski, who ran Bernie Sanders' campaign in New Jersey, Levi Sanders said that he thinks Murphy's positions align with his own.

“Phil Murphy believes in a $15 minimum wage,” Sanders said. “He's a gutsy guy! He believes in the legalization of marijuana. He believes in criminal justice reform,” Sanders noted.

...

“[Murphy] believes in all of things that I believe,” Sanders mentioned. “He wants to give back,” he later noted.

This is a win and should not be a problem for anyone supporting Democrats.

[hrmjustin]

26. I don't like money in elections but it is what it is.

He won and now we hope he wins.

[Foamfollower]

5. I notice the pruists are immediately all over this.

[Demsrule86]

7. Some seem to hate victory...it is a done deal...the primary is over.

Now vote for the person with a "D" next to his name.

[Jim Lane]

17. The 2016 presidential election is also a done deal.

That doesn't stop some people from looking at the process and thinking about how it could be improved. Even aside from the Russia question, there's the renewed agitation to abolish the Electoral College.

As a New Jersey resident, I plan to vote for Murphy in the general election. That's not inconsistent with pointing out the problems with the rules under which he won the primary.

[Hortensis]

21. Yes! Some passionate souls on both right and left do

display very strong patterns of preferring loss to compromise. Their burden is to be the righteous few, the special people who are capable of seeing the truth and having the answers in a world overrun by all us corrupt people who cannot see.

Seriously, it must be hard for them.

[Blue_true]

22. To the purists, electing an evil republican who uses dark money

is better than electing a rich democrat who uses his own money to finance his run. The purists seem to have an underlying belief that all rich people are evil, even proven progressive democrats that happen to be rich.

[spanone]

12. K&R...

[NCTraveler]

13. +1 Unite and get a win. nt.

[SaschaHM]

20. Good. Elections are never fair playing fields.

Why shouldn't he spend his own money to get his message and name out there? If anything, he gets to say "I'm not beholden to X donor, because I put my own money into this campaign". Hell, given how every democratic fundraiser gets thrown back into the candidates face by whomever on the left or right has a problem with them, I'd self fund my own candidacy as well if I could.

[Blue_true]

23. Totally agree. Damned if he does, damned if he don't.

The fact that he is rich rubs some raw.

[Jim Lane]

24. We could make them a lot more fair.

For example, a candidate who qualifies for matching funds, including the acceptance of a spending limit, could get a bigger match. IIRC the New York City campaign finance rules allow a bigger multiplier for the matching funds going to a candidate who has an opponent who hasn't accepted the spending limit. Under the current interpretation of the First Amendment, a wealthy candidate can't be prevented from spending unlimited amounts of his or her own money, but the government could do more to diminish that advantage.

[InformedElitist]

25. not a whole daylight btw the Dem candidates

As far as I could tell, there wasn't much daylight btw. all the (D) candidates. I voted for Johnson as he was the only one to speak explicitly of NJ corruption. As someone who puts a high priority on education, barring any SERIOUS scandal, I'm fine with voting for Murphy in Nov.

The article mentions it, and it's true, that the Goldman Sachs stench is worse in NJ than even nationally b/c of Corzine.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. He strongly supports NJ fully legalizing marijuana

Boy, is that gonna chap Christie's Fat fucking ass.