The Anti-machine Movement Is Having A Moment In New Jersey

More than a year after Andy Kim became New Jersey’s junior senator by running an insurgent campaign against Democratic power brokers, the anti-machine movement is notching even more wins in the Garden State.

In the state’s second-largest city, candidates who railed against the political establishment and corporate interests won runoff elections that included the defeat of a former governor trying to make a comeback. A Statehouse hearing that put on display tensions between state leaders and reformist Democrats led to intense backlash that helped kill a controversial bill to defang a watchdog agency. And Democrats in congressional races are feeling emboldened that a campaign message pushing back against the establishment can propel them to victories in competitive races.

Even beyond New Jersey, longstanding political machines have faltered as insurgents seek to shift who has the power. New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani harnessed the momentum behind the anti-establishment movement earlier this year to resoundingly defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And in Illinois — another state known for its political boss culture — there have been pushes to restructure power in the state.

Kim’s Senate victory in 2024 came thanks in large part to his crusade against the so-called county line, which empowered party bosses by giving establishment-backed candidates a better spot on the ballot. Ever since New Jersey’s ballot layout changed, primaries have become more crowded and turnout has increased — a significant change in a state where politics have long been shaped by powerful county chairs.

Now, a year into his Senate term, Kim is wielding his political might to take on the machine again.

He endorsed and campaigned with Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon, who defeated establishment-backed former Gov. Jim McGreevey in this month’s runoff. He was an outspoken voice against the bill to take away investigative powers from the comptroller — and got into a high-profile showdown with longtime state Sen. James Beach, whom he is now vowing to recruit a challenger against. He’s weighing in on the contested primary in the 11th District to succeed Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, and has already hit the trail with former Rep. Tom Malinowski. And in another sign of his influence, he’s meeting with incoming state legislators — some of whom ran anti-establishment campaigns earlier this year — on Monday to discuss state and federal partnerships.

“People are starting to believe we can change our Jersey politics,” Kim said in an interview last week, adding that he is grateful to have a part in the movement but noted it is “bigger than me.” “There’s a momentum growing, and it is the dawn of a new era in politics in New Jersey.”

Anti-establishment messaging appears to be resonating with voters, particularly as trust in the government has cratered nationally. The latest electoral test of this in New Jersey was in Jersey City, where Solomon defeated McGreevey by close to 40 points in the runoff. Further down the ballot, two democratic socialist candidates prevailed in runoffs for the city council, defeating candidates on McGreevey’s slate — including the daughter of a former Jersey City mayor.

“We are now really starting to see the ripple effect of the county line going away,” said Mussab Ali, a former member of the Jersey City Board of Education who unsuccessfully ran for mayor this year. “In 2024 when that decision was handed down, I think people didn't quite see the impact in that first cycle directly that year and said, ‘Ah, it doesn't really mean anything.’ But now what we're starting to see is the machines are losing their grip. Now the question is not, ‘Who is the hand-chosen machine candidate?’ It is, ‘Can a candidate have mass appeal to the voters they are elected to represent?’”

Ali, who is considering a primary against Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez in the 8th District, said that he was “encouraged” by turnout in the runoff, adding that he sees an opportunity because voters are “finally judging candidates on the basis of who they are” rather than if they have the party’s backing or come from a well-known political family.

Candidates running for Congress in other seats are also looking to capitalize on this anti-machine sentiment — a dynamic that is emerging particularly in the February special primary election to succeed Sherrill.

“The most important issue for Democrats in our race is, who can most effectively stand up to Trump’s abuse of power and corruption?” said Malinowski, one of the dozen Democrats running for the seat. “But there's also a sense that we can't as Democrats fight that problem in Washington if we tolerate it in New Jersey.”

Malinowski most recently was chair of the Hunterdon County Democratic Committee and previously represented the state’s 7th District, until redistricting cost him his seat in 2022. Malinowski, who was an early backer of Kim’s 2024 Senate campaign, said that people knowing that “machines haven’t exactly been my closest friends is a solid proof point when I talk about fighting corruption and restoring integrity.”

Another high-profile candidate in the race, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy and former Sen. Bernie Sanders staffer Analilia Mejia, who entered the race with Sanders’ endorsement, is also making a case against the machine. Mejia urged county committees — which can help when it comes to get-out-the-vote efforts — to remain neutral in the primary, writing that voters are “exhausted by insider politics and the current direction of the Democratic Party” and “we can’t tell people we’re fighting for democracy in Washington while participating in processes here at home that feel rigged from the start.”

County parties ended up endorsing other candidates, anyway.

Mejia said she sees an opportunity for progressive ideas to prevail in the primary, pointing to “the shifting economy, the distaste for traditional machine politics that feel like they have failed us” and “the changes in the democratic process.”

“Families are hurting, and it is clearer and clearer, whether it's the establishment Democratic Party leadership or the Republican Party, they are completely out of step … from most working families,” she said.

Progressive groups are hoping to capitalize on the anti-establishment momentum.

“There’s something to running as an anti-establishment candidate. I think the electorate is ready for it,” said Antoinette Miles, state director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, who added that the organization is “excited about the opportunity to engage” in the upcoming congressional primaries. “That establishment can be corporate Democrats, or machine politics, or it could just be corporations and the billionaire class at large.”

While some insurgent congressional candidates may view the anti-establishment energy as a motivator for their campaign, the fault lines may not be as clear in crowded primaries, where campaign fundraising has a direct impact on voter outreach — especially in the 11th, where candidates have just weeks to make their pitch to voters.

But the sentiment is already playing out in Trenton. The vocal opposition to the bill put forward by Democratic state Senate President Nick Scutari that would expand the powers of the State Commission of Investigation and weaken the state comptroller, who has issued critical reports on Scutari’s allies, could be a preview of how incoming state legislators are planning to govern within the traditional power structure.

High-profile officials spoke out against the bill at the hearing, including Kim and Attorney General Matt Platkin — both of whom Beach, the chair of the committee, made wait hours to testify — and incoming Assemblymember Ravi Bhalla, the mayor of Hoboken, who won his seat earlier this year after running an anti-establishment campaign.

A week after the hearing, Scutari said that he was going to pull the legislation, citing people’s concerns. Shortly after Scutari’s maneuver, Kim announced that he will be “stepping up to get involved across this state and make sure we’re taking on elected officials who have been standing up and protecting the machine politics,” including Beach. Beach accused Kim of acting like a “party boss” and wanting to “make sure he selects the candidates and sets the agenda.”

“That is the definition of boss-ism,” Beach said in a statement.

Bhalla said that it is a "special thing that we have a U.S. senator courageously leading this fight.”

“He’s not trying to tell people how to vote, he's not trying to get somebody that he can control, he's not trying to control the flow of money or jobs,” Bhalla said. “Those are the functions of party bosses. He's trying to do the opposite,”

Sherrill, who did not weigh in directly on the bill when it was proposed, said in a statement after news emerged that the bill was dropped that she was “clear that I would not support any effort to weaken oversight.”

Kim told POLITICO last week, prior to the bill being pulled, that he has had a “number of conversations” with Sherrill, whom he said he has a strong relationship with, about concerns regarding how New Jersey politics have operated in the past.

“I think she can feel the energy that propelled her into office and I told her I want to have her as a partner with me in this effort,” he said. “I hope she sees if she's willing to be forward on this and to help lead on this there will be a whole army of us there right next to her. We’re already fighting this fight and we can use all the help we can get.”

Daniel Han and Matt Friedman contributed to this report.