It’s a concept now front-and-center in Jersey politics as First Lady Tammy Murphy goes for a U.S. Senate seat and is being accused of having the path cleared for her in the Democratic primary because her husband happens to be the still-very-powerful Gov. Phil Murphy. Her chief opponent, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, has made it a race in part by calling this the ultimate example of insider politics.
“What Egan did, that is a manifestation of how machines operate,” said Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers University professor who has researched politics in New Jersey. “You just appoint your successor.”
And for the most part, once you’re in, you’re in. Rubin has researched the county line and found the chances of an incumbent candidate losing are slim.