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Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., is taking an axe to the New Jersey Democratic Party’s political “machine,” vowing to support a primary challenge against longtime New Jersey state Sen. James Beach and any others who “fuel corrupt machine politics” in the Garden State.
Kim is the latest Democrat to break with the party’s old guard. In a video announcement released Wednesday, the blue state senator described a political establishment that is more focused on special interests than “doing what’s right for the people.”
The New Jersey Democrat’s plan follows former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg sparking an intraparty rift earlier this year when he announced he would invest millions through his super PAC, Leaders We Deserve, to primary older, incumbent Democrats who he said are “asleep at the wheel.”
Hogg was quick to endorse Kim’s “amazing” plan, asking the Garden State senator what Leaders We Deserve can do to help.
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., arrives on the Senate subway in the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“We need leaders who represent the people, not powerful interests; and we need a grassroots army to build an anti-corruption movement,” Kim said Wednesday.
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While acknowledging that Beach is a part of Kim’s own party, the Democrat said he was compelled to speak out following a recent state senate committee hearing.
“He said something there that just — I’ve never heard before in politics,” Kim said. “A constituent from the crowd spoke out, and the state senator, the chairman, looked at him and said, ‘I don’t care about you.’ And I just thought that that was so reflective of the broken politics that we have in New Jersey, frankly, around this country.”
Beach did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Beach told The New Jersey Globe Wednesday that he plans to seek re-election in 2027.
“I have never believed that holding elected office was somehow a right that could not or should not be challenged, and I welcome any and all opponents to file to run against me in my re-election bid so that we can fully review our records and agenda for the future. I’m very proud of my record,” Beach told The Globe, while accusing Kim of trying to become a “party boss.”
Then-Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., delivers remarks in Paramus, New Jersey, on March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
But Kim believes that elected officials who are dismissive of constituents reflect a broader problem in politics.
“We have elected officials, politicians that don’t feel beholden to the people, don’t feel accountable,” Kim explained. “Here in New Jersey, it’s because of these entrenched machine politics that Senator Beach has been a part of for many, many years. And for so long, they have been focused on themselves, on their special interests and their corporate interests, rather than doing what’s right for the people. And I just have to say that’s enough.”
Fed up with the status quo of “machine politics,” Kim vowed to support a primary challenger against Beach in 2027, when he is up for re-election. Beach has served as a New Jersey state senator since 2009.
“I’m gonna be stepping up to get involved across this state and make sure we’re taking on elected officials who have been standing up and protecting the machine politics, standing against what we’re trying to do to fight corruption, and that needs to end.”
Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve has led a nationwide effort to elect young, progressive candidates to Congress and statewide legislatures across the U.S.
The group endorsed a slew of high-profile progressive Democrats this year, including New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, failed congressional candidate and Gen Z activist Deja Foxx and Akbar Ali, who was recently elected to Georgia’s General Assembly at just 21-years-old.
Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg delivered remarks to Michigan State University students while protesting gun violence in Lansing, Michigan, on Feb. 20, 2023. (Reuters/Emily Elconin)
Hogg resigned from his vice chair position earlier this year after DNC Chair Ken Martin gave him an ultimatum to either forego his involvement with Leaders We Deserve or resign from his vice chair role. Amid a procedural challenge to his election, Hogg resigned, arguing party politics were at play in pushing him out — an accusation the DNC has rejected.
The 25-year-old’s plan to primary challenge Democrats in safe, blue districts triggered a debate about the party’s future as Democrats spent much of 2025 without a clear message or leader following losses up and down the ballot last year.
On the heels of Mamdani’s success in New York City — a race that took national politics by storm as a socialist millennial was elected to lead the largest city in the U.S. — more progressive, anti-establishment candidates have been jumping into races across the U.S.
In San Francisco, two high-profile Democratic challengers announced campaigns for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat before she had even announced her plan to step down from the seat she has held since 1987.
Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and state senator Scott Wiener, are running to Pelosi’s left, part of a broader coast-to-coast battle for the Democratic Party’s progressive base.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and then-candidate Zohran Mamdani carry a banner across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, ahead of Election Day. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Just this week, Mamdani-endorsed Brad Lander launched a primary challenge against Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who refused to endorse Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. Lander is considered the more progressive candidate for his outright condemnation of the war in Gaza, while Goldman told CBS New York’s Marcia Kramer that he feared Mamdani wouldn’t do enough to protect Jewish New Yorkers.
As Kim takes a stance on the ideological divide driving the future of the Democratic Party, the New Jersey senator encouraged his constituents to get involved in the political process.
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“Senator Beach is part of my own political party, but I have to stand up against corruption, stand up against the broken politics, no matter who is violating it. Sometimes that means standing up against my own party,” Kim said.
The New Jersey senator’s announcement also came on the heels of Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s success in November, as national Democrats claim to be “on the offense” heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
Kim did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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