 | BY MIA MCCARTHY | | 
New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy talks to reporters at the Bergen County Democratic convention in Paramus, New Jersey on Monday, March 4, 2024. Murphy suspended her campaign for Senate on Sunday. | Seth Wenig/AP | THE SOUL OF A NEW MACHINE — It was the week that blew up New Jersey’s political machine. First came a legal filing from the state’s attorney general conceding that New Jersey’s infamous ballot design was unconstitutional. Then, embattled Bob Menendez, the state’s senior senator and a fixture in Congress for over 30 years, announced he would not run in the Democratic primary — but kept the door open for an independent run. On Sunday, came the final blow: First Lady Tammy Murphy dropped her bid for Senate , capping a series of events that did more to break the state’s notoriously reform-resistant, party-boss-driven political culture than any other effort in decades. Long recognized for its tradition of corruption and its all-in-the-family politics, New Jersey finally took a step toward the modern era. All of it traces back to September, when Menendez and his wife were indicted for accepting bribes in the form of cash, mortgage payments and gold bars. A defiant Menendez refused to resign his seat; a day later, Democratic Rep. Andy Kim — a relative political outsider in the state — announced he would challenge Menendez in the primary. Murphy officially joined the race nearly two months later. On paper, Murphy was assumed to be the frontrunner. She had money, name recognition and the blue state’s ossified Democratic establishment quickly fell in line behind her. That meant she was likely to receive New Jersey’s equivalent of a coronation — the so-called “party line’ position on the ballot that is unique to the state. The system places county chair-endorsed candidates together in a row on primary ballots so that it appears more prominently on the ballot. Studies have found there is an advantage to this favorable ballot placement, making the local party-endorsed candidates more likely to win. But her campaign faltered amid the bad political optics of her candidacy. Though accomplished in her own right, the spectacle of party leaders greasing the path to the Senate for the wealthy governor’s wife led to widespread grumbling among grassroots party activists. Polls showed she was failing to gain traction against Kim, an unassuming, mild-mannered congressman who campaigned on changing the New Jersey machine. Kim had gone so far as to file a lawsuit in federal court against the ballot design back in February — he is seeking a preliminary injunction to eliminate the party line from ballots ahead of the June primary — but just days before the ballot line got its first hearing in court, state Attorney General Matt Platkin conceded that the state laws that enforce the county-line system are unconstitutional — and his office would not defend them in court . It was a blow to the line system and to Murphy’s campaign: Platkin got his start on Gov. Phil Murphy’s first campaign for governor, before Murphy appointed Platkin as the state’s top attorney. After that, the dominoes began to fall fast. Facing near-impossible odds in a Democratic primary, Menendez announced Thursday he won’t run as a Democrat. He left the door open for an independent bid, however — it wouldn’t be his first time running while facing an indictment. As for Murphy, she bowed out of the race on Sunday, on the eve of New Jersey’s filing deadline, saying that “continuing in this race will involve waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do.” That much was true, though her stunning decision was also a reflection of the troubled nature of her campaign. The resistance she faced often seemed as much about the insider-dominated political system that enabled her candidacy as about Murphy herself. With Menendez in legal jeopardy, the governor and his wife politically bruised and the county line system under siege, New Jersey may be at a turning point. And the biggest change is yet to come, with Kim — the political outsider the establishment sought to steamroll — now on a glide path to the Democratic Senate nomination in a very blue state. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at mmccarthy@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @Reporter_Mia .
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| | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW . | | | | | | | — Trump’s first criminal trial is now set for April 15: Donald Trump will face his first criminal trial on April 15 , the judge overseeing the former president’s hush money case ruled today after having allowed a several-week delay so Trump’s lawyers could review last-minute documents relevant to the case. The Manhattan trial, over a payment Trump authorized in the final weeks of the 2016 election to silence porn star Stormy Daniels’ claims of a sexual encounter with him, had been set to start March 25. But after federal prosecutors handed over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to the case in recent weeks, Justice Juan Merchan agreed earlier this month to postpone the start of proceedings. — Trump no longer needs to post full $454M bond in civil fraud case, court rules: A panel of state appeals judges gave Donald Trump a significant reprieve today by lowering the amount of the bond he must post to stop enforcement of a $454 million civil judgment for corporate fraud. Trump can post a bond of just $175 million while he appeals the verdict, the five-judge panel ruled in a terse order, after the former president said he couldn’t obtain a bond to cover the full judgment. — Judge dismisses Musk’s lawsuit against nonprofit researchers tracking hate speech on X: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X Corp. against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate , which has documented the increase in hate speech on the site since it was acquired by the Tesla owner. X, formerly known as Twitter, had argued the center’s researchers violated the site’s terms of service by improperly compiling public tweets, and that its subsequent reports on the rise of hate speech cost X millions of dollars when advertisers fled. Today, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the suit, writing in his order that it was “unabashedly and vociferously about one thing” — punishing the nonprofit for its speech.
| | GAS MONEY — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who built his public profile as an environmental activist and crusader against polluters, earned tens of thousands of dollars from an oil and gas rights leasing company , reports POLITICO. The independent presidential candidate reported the earnings on his financial disclosure form filed last June from Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership, which leases land for oil and gas extraction in Oklahoma, Texas and other states. PAYBACK — Former President Donald Trump wants a Republican to mount a primary challenge to Rep. Laurel Lee , the lone member of Florida’s congressional delegation to endorse Gov. Ron DeSantis in his unsuccessful bid for president. Lee, who won a crowded GOP primary two years ago in a safe red district, served as Florida’s top election official under DeSantis and resisted calls by a faction of vocal Republicans and Trump supporters to do a complete audit of the 2020 election in the state. DeSantis at the time also rejected calls for an audit of the results that showed that Trump defeated now-President Joe Biden by three percentage points in the state. VEEP FAIL — With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set to unveil his running mate on Tuesday, an unforeseen hiccup has emerged in Nevada , complicating the long-shot independent’s path to gaining ballot access in the Silver State, CBS News reports. Kennedy’s vice presidential pick comes as he needs a running mate to qualify for the ballot in multiple states. And despite the campaign’s announcement earlier this month celebrating amassing 15,000 signatures in Nevada, which exceeds what’s needed to get on the ballot in November, the campaign could be forced to start its signature collection from scratch in the state because it failed to name a running mate when it filed Kennedy’s petition, according to documents filed by Kennedy. Nevada’s presidential candidate’s guide states that independent candidate petitions must include both the presidential and vice presidential candidates’ names on the petition in order to be valid, the Nevada secretary of state’s office confirmed. SPAC ATTACK — Donald Trump’s fledgling social media venture will begin trading as a public company on Tuesday , setting the former president up for a potentially massive payday if all goes to plan, reports POLITICO. Trump Media & Technology Group is slated to debut on Nasdaq under the ticker “DJT,” according to a securities filing released today. The company, which operates Truth Social, will take over the listing of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a blank-check entity that has been scrambling for much of the past two years to complete a $300 million merger with Trump Media. Shareholders approved the deal Friday.
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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant leaves the State Department after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department today. | Roberto Schmidt.AFP via Getty Images | WAVED THROUGH — The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution today explicitly calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war after the U.S. declined to exercise its veto power, POLITICO reports. Israel responded by canceling a visit this week by Israeli officials and top advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, adding to the tensions between the two longtime allies amid Israel’s military operations in the Gaza strip. The passage of the resolution, led and presented by the non-permanent members of the United Nations’ most powerful body, comes after a series of resolutions addressing the Israel-Hamas war failed because of vetoes from the United States, China and Russia because of disagreements over the phrasing of calls for a cease-fire. The decision of the U.S. to abstain, rather than veto the resolution, is also Washington’s sharpest action to date at the United Nations against its ally. It also came ahead of an expected trip from top advisers to Netanyahu and Israeli government officials to Washington, as Israel and the U.S. find themselves at odds over a looming invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah. Israeli media reported ahead of the vote that Netanyahu threatened to cancel his officials’ trip to Washington to discuss, among other things, humanitarian aid, the release of hostages and plans for protecting civilians in a planned operation in Rafah if the U.S. failed to veto the resolution. Shortly after the vote, Netanyahu’s office announced that “In light of the change in the American position, Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided that the delegation will not travel to the U.S.” NEW BLOOD — A former Senegalese prime minister today conceded the presidential election to the opposition candidate based on preliminary results a day after the vote, according to a statement by his campaign, reports The Associated Press. Amadou Ba said he congratulated Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye and wished him success. Faye’s expected victory reflected frustration among youth with high unemployment and concerns about governance in the West African nation. Faye, backed by popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, has vowed to protect Senegal from corruption and interference from foreign powers like former colonial master France.
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| | | ROLLING THUNDER — In late February, an executive in Nassau County — on New York’s Long Island — signed an executive order that banned transgender women and girls from competing in women’s and girls’ sports. It was the first order of its kind in New York, though these bans have dotted the country of late. The order has yet to come into play, as no one involved with its drafting has noted any transgender women actually attempting to compete in women’s sports leagues. But it’s still driving political questions in the state, and now has an interesting challenger in court : A women’s roller derby league. In Hell Gate, Katie Way talked to the (maybe aptly named) Roller Rebels who are bringing the charge.
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On this date in 1911: The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York kills 146 garment workers — because the doors to the exits were locked, workers were trapped as the fire began. Pictured are family members attempting to identify the dead victims of the fire. | AP | Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here . | |
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