First Lady Tammy Murphy won the backing this morning of the Passaic County Democratic Committee.

Murphy beat her rival, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-3) via Zoom, as the candidates for U.S. Senate zero in on Monmouth, where InsiderNJ Columnist Fred Snowflack is on the ground.

Municipal party leaders registered their votes from county party headquarters in Woodland Park.

There were a few nays.

But not enough to drown out the ayes, as Murphy asserted her establishment advantage over the upstart Kim from Burlington County. Passaic County Democratic Committee Chairman John Currie served as state party chairman during Phil Murphy’s nascent political career, finessing the North Jersey party relationships that landed Murphy the requisite party organization support in 2017 to catapult him into the governorship.  Currie subsequently went toe-to-toe with South Jersey in defense of the governor.

Given the depth of connectivity, Passaic’s backing for Tammy Murphy under the auspices of the sitting chairman came as no surprise.

But the day wasn’t over, as all eyes turned from Passaic to Monmouth, the First Lady’s home turf, where a secret ballot played havoc with expectations.

Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina also participated in the Passaic screening via Zoom.

More later, from InsiderNJ.