Tammy Murphy officially launches campaign for Senate in New Jersey and says she’s ‘the right person at the right moment’

New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy launched her campaign for Senate on Wednesday, vowing to protect abortion rights and fight for gun control and climate initiatives if elected to the seat currently held by embattled Sen. Bob Menendez.

Murphy enters the race a favorite of the Democratic establishment, but she will likely face questions about her voting history as a former member of the Republican Party. She previewed a run that will focus on her work as first lady and experience as a mother of four.

“The reason that I am actually doing this, just so we are clear, is that our working families and our children deserve better,” Murphy said in an interview after she launched her campaign with a video posted online.

Murphy, 58, has never held elected office but enters the race with the expected backing of many political power players who hold considerable weight in the state’s primaries. In New Jersey, Democratic Party chairs set ballot positions and that has great sway on who becomes the party’s nominee. The race is shaping up to become a test of the New Jersey Democratic machine grip on primaries.

While some progressive groups called Murphy’s early support from Democratic leaders nepotism, she told The Inquirer she was approached to run by a variety of people, including party leaders, faith leaders, and community advocates. She said she had not considered running for office since student government.

“Honestly, I was incredulous,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I was laughing, I was scoffing it off, and I thought, ‘Why me? No, no, no.’ And I have now been convinced that yes, I am the right person at the right moment, and I think that I’m the best choice, and I will look forward to building a broad coalition across the state to make that case.”

Murphy has been one of the most involved first ladies in recent New Jersey history — maintaining her own office and staff, and working on several initiatives, including reducing Black maternal and infant death rates in the state.

“When I was pregnant … I worried about a million things like all moms do but I never worried if I’d survive childbirth or if my babies would get the care they needed to,” Murphy said in her campaign launch video. “I didn’t have to. The money in our family’s bank account and frankly the color of my skin meant I could get the best care available but that’s not the case for a lot of women.”

She enters the field of candidates vying to replace Menendez, who lost his party’s backing after he was indicted on federal bribery charges in September.

While she doesn’t explicitly mention Menendez by name in her launch video, an image of him flashes on screen in the remarks as she says, “Right now, Washington is filled with too many people more interested in getting rich or getting on camera than getting things done for you.”

Menendez framed Murphy’s candidacy in a New York Times article about her run, as a coronation passed down from her husband, who Menendez said has a “vested interest,” in the seat. Phil Murphy was the first prominent Democrat in the state to call for Menendez’ resignation and nearly every Democratic leader in the state followed.

Menendez pleaded not guilty to federal charges of bribery and plotting to be an agent of Egypt, and has said he won’t resign and hasn’t ruled out running for reelection.

Murphy’s most formidable opponent is shaping up to be U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, a three-term congressman representing parts of South and Central Jersey, who launched his campaign last week. Kim announced his intention to run the day after charges against Menendez dropped and has the early support of progressive and liberal-leaning groups in the state, who are rallying behind his goal to abolish the county line system in the state.

An internal poll from the Kim campaign released the day of Murphy’s campaign announcement showed him up 19 points on Murphy among likely primary voters in the state.

“Today’s poll shows that New Jersey voters want someone who is battle tested and proven so we don’t let Washington Republicans take back the Senate,” Kim said in a statement. “My message of integrity and changing our broken politics is connecting all across the state”

Kim previously worked for the State Department in Afghanistan and in the Obama White House as a National Security Council staffer.

Larry Hamm, a political activist and leader of the People’s Organization for Progress, is also running. Labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina, who runs the Worker Institute at Cornell University, has said she is also preparing to enter the race.

Murphy’s candidacy puts her in position to become the first woman elected to the Senate from New Jersey. A Virginia native, Murphy’s father was a U.S. Air Force veteran who owned several car dealerships. After graduating from the University of Virginia, where she first met Phil Murphy, she worked at Goldman Sachs, holding posts in London, Germany, and Hong Kong. She reconnected with Phil Murphy at the firm and the two married in 1993 and later settled in New Jersey. They have four children.

Murphy says in her launch video that during her career “a lot of times I was the only woman at the table, a challenge that led me to work twice as hard.”

New Jersey has been a solidly Democratic state in statewide races and Democratic successes in this year’s Assembly election could benefit Murphy who helped campaign alongside her husband in several key districts that Democrats held.

While her husband remains a popular and powerful figure in the state, she’ll likely face criticisms associated with his tenure — including a sexual assault allegation involving a staffer who worked on Murphy’s 2017 campaign. And she’s already faced questions about her political ideology.

Murphy was a registered Republican who donated to GOP candidates and voted in Republican primaries as recently as 2014, including during the period that her husband was finance chair of the Democratic National Committee. She became a Democrat before her husband’s run for governor three years later.

Murphy said she’s been a firm believer in reproductive freedom, climate change, and education. She said she hadn’t supported a Republican in a general election in decades.

“Yes I was raised in a conservative household, but I am a proud Democrat,” she said. “ … I am one of the staunchest Democrats you will find in terms of supporting the party, toeing the party line and making sure that we are delivering for people who need us the most.”

Murphy and her husband are co-owners of the NJ/NY Gotham FC, a professional women’s soccer team that just won the National Women’s Soccer League championship on Saturday.