On a chilly Saturday morning last month, a smiling First Lady Tammy Murphy walked into the wooden-floored Portuguese Club of Long Branch, just a few blocks off the beach, where hundreds of Monmouth County Democrats gathered to decide who they’d endorse for U.S. Senate.
As she glad-handed her way through the packed room, greeting rank-and-file voters, so did her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, the most powerful politician in New Jersey.