JERSEY BOYS - AGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Young voters are powering Rep. Andy Kim's challenge to Trenton's powers that be.

- Nina Wang

WHEN ETHAN BLOCK heard that Andy Kim was running for Senate, he got to work. Over winter break, the Rutgers University senior launched a campus group to spread the word about the mild-mannered congressman taking on Bob Menendez, the longtime Democratic senator who'd been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes of gold bars and cash-stuffed envelopes in exchange for, among other things, secretly aiding the government of Egypt. By February, Block's new group-RU for Andy Kimboasted a roster of about 40 students who'd volunteered to pound doors and spread the word.

To Block, Kim wasn't just battling one disgraced incumbent-he was also challenging the iron grip of New Jersey's Democratic machine, which, having finally abandoned Menendez, then threw in with a candidate from its own ranks: Gov. Phil Murphy's wife.When she entered the race, Tammy Murphy trailed Kim by double digits. But with her inside support, she was crowned the presumptive frontrunner.

Swapping an indicted politician for the first lady, Block argues, just felt like "replacing corruption for nepotism." And "we're not looking for either one of those things."

Kim doesn't give the impression of a candidate destined to energize young voters. The 41-year-old three-term congressman casts himself as a humble civil servant who believes in "customer service governance." He famously cleaned up trash in the rotunda after rioters stormed the Capitol. He speaks about filibuster reform and prescription drug affordability. He's unafraid of cringey political cliches: "I'm a workhorse, not a show horse" is a campaign mantra.