Tuesday's primary solidified the power of party machines even without the Party line ballot with no real surprises but several consequential wins sitting Congressman Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw now in contention for embattled us Senator Bob menendez's seat he's not out of the race by the way he's just running as an independent in the house it was a sweep for incumbents especially the younger Menendez who fought off a bruising challenge to retake his party's nomination but the election also showed the power or lack of it for the Trump name in blue New Jersey and starts the clock on a frenetic campaign season that will see a contentious presidential race top the ticket senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the Roundup from Tuesday's election I showed you that I can withstand the challenges and I will always take on the fights big and small for you for your family because that's what this is about as Congressman Rob Menendez up his victory in District 8 for a cheering Hudson County crowd he underscored the biggest takeaway from this primary election at least for Democrats even without the infamous county line ballot winners backed by powerful political machines can still effectively steamroll their opponents Menendez beat his main Challenger Hoboken mayor Ravi Bhalla by 18 points the organizations are not going to play dead just because they don't have the line Rider's Micah Rasmussen watched incumbent score primary victories across the state on both sides of the aisle when party organizations cranked out votes in cd8 powerful City Mayors made a difference the kind of vote that you saw Brian stack pull out of his town uh for the early vote every day of early voting a quarter of the state's early vote was coming from Union City and um so there is no substitute for that um the the line can give people equal footing on the ballot but it doesn't mean that everybody is going to campaign equally so listen the strength of the candidate matters fundraising organiz organizing volunteers all those things still matter and they're going to matter on both sides it's not hasn't been just a campaign it's been a movement and Congressman Andy Kim proved just how dramatically the political landscape can shift easily winning the Democratic primary for US Senate this has been a a very challenging and and difficult race a very dramatic one at that and one that frankly has changed New Jersey politics forever his successful Grassroots campaign against establishment candidate first lady Tammy Murphy mobilized progressives and his legal challenge broke the party line ballot for Democrats now Kim will face off against moderate Cap May Republican Curtis Bashaw who easily beat the Trump endorsed Maga candidate Christine Serrano Glassner Republican analyst Chris Russell emphasized campaign organization still counts and I'm sure there are some who are going to say oh you know the Trump endorsement doesn't matter I don't agree with that I think you have to run a campaign um and she did not uh her campaign did not promote the endorsement or her or her as a candidate uh anywhere near enough we were vetted we were screened we had to knock on doors and meet committee people and we won this fair and square those 14 County endorsements and I am very grateful for the process because it was the best way to get to know this state basa weily embraced Trump during the primary and will face not only Andy Kim but also indicted incumbent Senator Bob Menendez who filed to run as an independent even as he stands trial for alleged briary Jersey hasn't elected a republican to the US Senate in more than 50 years but the state GOP today issued a statement vowing New Jersey is in play this November well I hate to break it to the New Jersey GOP but new jersey is not in play this November Dan Bryan heads the Democratic PAC Stronger Fairer Forward he predicts President Biden will win Jersey by 12 to 14 points with coattails and that Bashaw can't beat those odds I expect the Democratic candidate uh Andy Kim to outpace him even if Bob Mendez pulls 5 to 10% which is a very big if that still really doesn't put the seed in play um listen it's a big if to see whether or not Bob mundez really is going to be on the ballot right progressives had little time to organize after the county line ballots court order demise but in cd7 one Democrat Progressive Sue Alman will face Republican incumbent Tom Kean who announced he's voting for Trump on the same day that a New York jury convicted the former president all eyes are going to be on cd7 in the general um there are many saying that Sue Altman is too far left too Progressive for that District I'm not among them expect a politically seismic campaign season I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news.

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