The most powerful person in New Jersey politics today might be Zahid Quraishi, the U.S. District Court Judge handling the lawsuit seeking to end organization lines.

With Andy Kim filing a lawsuit on Monday citing the exigent circumstances of his U.S. Senate primary,  Quraishi is being asked to change the rules for primary elections less than a month from the filing deadline or to maintain the status quo until the four-year-old lawsuit plays out.

Kim wants the court to prospectively shut down the county line system as legal, saying he’d be irreparably harmed if they don’t.

Now the question is whether Quraishi, who was named to the bench by President Joe Biden, takes the bait.  If he does, it’ll be the best signal yet of his view to outlaw lines altogether.  His refusal to dismiss the case outright was a big deal.

The window to decide on Kim’s filing is extraordinarily tight.  The filing deadline is March 25, the ballot drawing is April 4, and county clerks must begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots on April 20; that deadline is less flexible in federal election years under a federal law ballots sent to active U.S. military serving overseas must go out 45 days before the election.

While Quraishi can set his briefing schedule — some New Jersey Superior Court judges famously do that without regard to election deadlines – he may choose to deal with some realities; for example, a ruling as late as Friday, March 22, could help a potential candidate decide to get in the race, but with county and municipal clerks offices closed on the weekend, those candidates could lose the ability to file nominating petitions by Monday afternoon.  Even still, voting could commence 29 days later, a narrow runway to raise money and conduct a campaign.

Delaying the primary until July could be problematic: New Jersey could lose its delegates to the Democratic National Convention if they don’t hold a June primary.

The Senate primary isn’t the only race potentially impacted by an order to strike lines in the June primary; it could also impact congressional, county, and municipal races.

In New Jersey’s 3rd district, Kim’s lawsuit potentially negates convention wins for Herb Conaway, Jr. in Burlington and Monmouth counties. It keeps other candidates  – Carol Murphy, Joe Cohen, and Sarah Schoengood – in the race.  (Schoengood is one of Kim’s co-plaintiffs, creating  questions about how she and Kim formed a legal alliance.)  In the 8th district, no lines in Hudson, Essex, and Union counties could be a big problem for Robert J. Menendez, a freshman congressman who faces a tough primary against Ravi Bhalla, the mayor of Hoboken.

Without organization lines, some incumbent county commissioners with low name identification could suddenly find themselves in trouble; that might be the point of the original lawsuit.  One possible beneficiary of a decision to shut down lines is Jerry Speziale, who is interested in returning to his old job as Passaic County sheriff; he had $476,000 cash-on-hand at the end of 2023.

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