candidates are gearing up for the Statewide primary election now exactly two weeks away being held on Tuesday June 4th among the key races topping the ticket the battle for Congressman Andy Kim seat in the Third District which is now open as the third term Democrat vised to replace Senator Mendez senior political correspondent David Cruz has a look at who's on the ballot and how the contest is shaping [Music] up veteran assemblyman herb con was presumed to be on a clear track to victory in this primary having gotten most of the party support in this newly bler Third District which lost some Ocean County and gained some Mammoth and Mercer counties it's a little ironic then that the guy who helped Tear Down the Line Andy Kim has made the race a lot closer than anyone expected to the benefit perhaps of Conway's assembly mate and now opponent Carol Murphy now it's letting me the opportunity to show people that I'm ready to take on DC without automatically shutting me out because you know through for whatever reason that he got all the lines Murphy and Conway have known each other for 30 years and serve in the assembly together but she says she's come to realize that a big difference between Conway and herself is that she is a hustler and he's grown content and lethargic if my constituent doesn't know who I am that's my fault not not their fault and um I haven't been lazy I've been accessible Conway a lawyer and doctor in addition to being a legislator shakes his head at that assertion rather than rest on his Laurels he says he's earned the support institutional and otherwise that he's gotten I think quite frankly some of this is uh you know um as a perjorative I think if I weren't a person of color I don't think that would be said I've worked very hard I've had um um more than one job for the last 25 years and excelled at both of those things continue to practice medicine and still do so I don't know where she gets this idea that I am lazy but it might be a preconceived notion that she has aside from that these two and the other Democrat in the field are generally on the same page policy-wise but the end of the party line has made primaries tougher for former Front Runners like Conway says analyst Mich rasmuson how powerful are they without the line and if they are still as powerful and they figured out how to adapt and how to move on and how to replace that shortcut that they had before then herb Conway should be in good shape but if they don't mean as much as they did before if the endorsements on their own don't mean that they're fired up then Carol Murphy has sort of an even shot for Democrats Sarah Shon good and Republicans in this race it's been catchup from day one and the end of the party line has helped but they remain long shots you have to have a lot of patience and what I've realized is you have to do a lot of listening and that should be a no-brainer but you can't go in knowing it all despite a reconfigured district that favors Democrats GOP candidates here say they think they'll get a bump from being aligned with Trump I think so I think so yeah I I've knocked on you know gone on a thousand doors personally myself and people know things off the rails particularly here in New Jersey immediately they asked why you Trump or you're not Trump they ask me I'm the one revers the question says are you Trump or you're not Trump and they say immediately surely our conversation gonna end over here if you're not Trump Andy Kim who's expected to be the state's next Democratic senator likes to tell voters he won in a district that favored Trump in the last two elections it's considered a safe seat for Democrats the question is which Democrat I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news [Music]