while the party line is as good as dead in New Jersey at least for Democrats yesterday a federal appeals court upheld a lower Court ruling to abolish the line which gives priority to candidates who have the backing of party leadership in each County the case was first brought by Congressman Andy Kim who's running for the US senate seat currently held by Senator Bob Menendez the appet decision is significant because the US Supreme Court is not likely to take up this case and it'll have an immediate impact on New Jersey voters as they head to the PO for the primaries in early June here to explain what it means and who won't be affected by it is senior writer and projects editor Colleen O'Dea, Colleen great to sit down with you so okay we know that the Camden County Democrats challenged the Court ruling right the federal court ruling to abolish the line what does that mean for all of the other counties in New Jersey you know I think there are some other counties that would like to have jumped in Middle sex County for instance uh put in an amicus brief so um in in certain counties more than others Camden County certainly is one middle sex is another I think Hudson is probably another Bergen County perhaps the the party bosses as we call them the party chairman really don't want to give up the kind of power that they've had which is that you know when you make this endorsement and you have this county line which does seem to have an influence on at least some voters um you know that that's that is some some strength some power but does the appell Court ruling for Camden County now indicate to all the other counties they don't have a shot here I I mean I think it does because certainly the the judges decisions both the US District Court and then the Appel judges said that there is a high likelihood that Andy Kim and the other plaintiffs will um ultimately win the case so it seems like continuing to fight this battle is feudal but maybe people will continue I don't know so we know that the Democrats are the only ones right now who brought a challenge to the line so what about Republicans are they beholden to these rules does the line still hold for them so this this is really one of the crazy things and I was just talking with some some you know General folks who who say this is not fair you know how come one party has one ballot and the other has another ballot and and certainly I think that's a point taken but um in this case the Republicans were not part of the suit at least initially there are some Republican candidates who would really like to get rid of the line as well that's not going to happen this year it certainly doesn't look like it anyway given that in two days the first ballots have to start getting mailed out County clerks could decide though to do away with the line if they chose to yes yes and in fact the Burlington County Clerk did that for the Republicans um she said why bother having two separate um you know two very different looking ballots for folks that doesn't seem right um and so she did that and that again was part of this a state lawsuit actually was brought um by Republicans saying hey Republican officials hey you you didn't have the authority to do that well she does in fact that's that was the decision there so we've seen some candidates come out in support of doing away with the line certainly Andy Kim right who brought the first uh challenge against the line we've seen Steve Phillip say that he'd be in support of no line um Politico this morning reported that in fact Congressman Josh goheer worked really hard to keep the line uh he says that he would welcome any party County Line support what happens now to the holdouts those who still really want to get that county line court so I think that certainly there is they can continue to pursue the case I mean this is only a preliminary injunction for this year so there this case will continue to move through the courts um you know a Josh gimer or someone like that could seek to try to intervene I mean we we did hear that he maybe uh helped middlex County find the lawyer that uh put in their Amicus brief um he could continue with that and certainly for a Josh gottheimer um if it's a candidate who was hoping that the County Line would help them uh they may want to continue to do that because no line could hurt them in the gubernatorial election not not that he's announced yet but everyone thinks that he will be jumping into that race um it could help it could hurt him next year yeah you teed up my next question we have a very crowded gubinatorial race already for 2025 three candidates on the Democratic side two more coming gottheimer could be one of them two announced on the Republican side one more likely coming is this anyone's race to win in the few seconds we have left at this point it's certainly could be um Steve Sweeney in South Jersey I think was counting on the line to cement support throughout South Jersey um that may not happen now next year um Steve phlip is has run as a Maverick before this could help him yeah I mean you've got um mayor Baraka there there it really could be anyone's race all right Colleen O'Deawe got to leave it there senior writer thank you so much thanks Joanna