Joe Kelley will head up Tammy Murphy super PAC

Port Authority Commissioner ran Phil Murphy’s fundraising operation in 2017

Joseph Kelley, commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and member of the Murphy inner circle, will head up a new super PAC, Garden State Integrity, to back Tammy Murphy’s bid for the U.S. Senate.

Kelley ran the fundraising operation for Phil Murphy’s 2017 gubernatorial campaign and served as deputy chief of staff from 2018 to 2022.  He has been Murphy’s point person on the state’s economic recovery from the pandemic and has been a key player in the development of statewide transit and international trade issues for the governor’s office.  He now runs consulting firms and is involved in major real estate projects in the tri-state area.

Bill Maer, a partner at a top Trenton lobbying firm, Public Strategies Impact, and a longtime Democratic insider, will serve as treasurer of the super PAC.

The super PAC will be disclosing its donors, the New Jersey Globe was told.

Murphy announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate yesterday.  She faces Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and former Newark school board member Larry Hamm in the Democratic primary.

She could also face Bob Menendez, the three-term Democratic incumbent who could still seek re-election despite his indictment on federal corruption charges.