New Jersey politics has been turned on its head after a federal judge on Friday issued a historic decision scrapping the state's controversial countyline ballot system for this year's Democratic primary election the decades old ballot design has long been contested for giving party-backed candidates an advantage in Races by grouping them together on the ballot helping party bosses maintain control of their power and play a large role in determining the winners and losers each election cycle US District Judge zahed karashi ruled in favor of a preliminary injunction sought by representative Andy Kim and two congressional candidates who through their lawsuit questioned the constitutionality of the party line the judge agreed the quote Integrity of the democratic process for a primary election is at stake calling it extraordinary the decision sent shock waves through the political system and a majority of the county clerks named as defendants in the lawsuit almost immediately appealed either way Congressman Andy Kim's Insurgent campaign may very well take down the line for good Kim joins me now with his reaction Congressman Andy Kim thanks for joining me uh this was a bombshell decision by the judge on Friday do you see this as a victory I see this as as real progress for the people of New Jersey making sure that they are in the driver seat of their democ Ry and not have uh you know a few Party leaders put their thumb on the scale of our democracy that has for so long been the system here but look uh you know this is a a progress but there's still much more work to be done not just for this uh primary but going forward to make sure that we have a permanent solution to this that gets rid of the County Line allows for the fairness in our elections and I won't stop until we have that yeah I mean the judge what he wrote was pretty extraordinary that to issue a temporary injunction like this there had to be pretty clear and concise evidence that there was that this was not constitutional uh how do you see it in terms of this playing out because we already know that uh quite a few County clerks 17 by last count filed for an appeal well look I we know that this is going to continue on I really I'll be honest with you I I find that to be you know frustrating for the people that more of our taxpayer dollars are being spent on this appeal when we should just be moving forward you know I think the judge was quite clear in laying out uh sort of what he saw as the strengths of our argument but we will proceed and continue on and try to fight on behalf of the people of New Jersey to be able to make sure we have fairness for the election this June and as I said I won't stop until we get this in a permanent place what does that look like congressmen not stopping until we get to until you get this to a permanent place I mean that could be an very expensive and drawn out process well you know it could be drawn out but I want to be honest I'm not hearing people defending the constitutionality of this so you know I'm hopeful that you know we can move forward in a place that can consolidate this and show that there is a consensus that what we had before is unfair this though only applies to the Democratic ballot so for the June 4th primary the Dem ratic ballot will be uh blocked bracketing as opposed to the previous Party Line bracketing do you believe that this should apply to both parties is there perhaps um any Injustice that you see by having two different ballots for this primary and and perhaps moving forward if there's not a a strong uh will on on that side uh well look uh I certainly believe that overall yes you know this should apply to everyone and we should have a fair process for all and that's what we're going to be fighting for over the course of Time how do you see this shifting Politics as we know it in New Jersey yeah I'm excited I'm excited to see what comes next I think this is gonna give opportunity for a lot of great public servants people leaders in their Community to consider stepping up the Run be able to get more people involved and frankly I think this will be better for the Democratic party as well um showing that we are a party that's trying to move in that direction and be consistent to our values of protecting democracy and having equality and fairness underpin our government there was a lawsuit against the party line that stemmed from 2020 that's been largely dormant do you think had you not jumped in the race for Senate uh that you would have personally pushed this endeavor as you have and do you think we would be at this point I don't think we would be at this point this quickly we were able to accelerate that very fast but our efforts are successful because of the previous actions the previous a lawsuit helped set the tone I'm really glad that we were able to do our part in terms of moving this forward uh especially be able to do it you know fast and in a way that really was able to show not just the state but the entire country the problem that we have here in New Jersey Congressman Andy Kim for us Congressman thanks so much thank you so much [Music]