TRENTON, N.J. (AP) —
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim won his party’s nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey on Tuesday, moving into a general election battle against wealthy hotel operator Curtis Bashaw, who defeated a Trump-backed Republican candidate for the nomination.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Menendez will also be on the ballot after declaring his intention to run as an independent amid a federal corruption trial on Monday. The turmoil surrounding the controversial senator could pose a headache for Democrats in a state where they have not lost a Senate election since 1972.
Kim, a three-term congressman who launched his campaign after Menendez was charged last year, rose to the top of the state’s dominant political party in a relatively tiny period of time. A former national security official in the Obama administration, he defeated an incumbent Republican in a race for a House seat in 2018 and won a court ruling this year that overturned a system unique to New Jersey that was widely seen as one that gives political bosses leverage over primary election victories.
“Leadership is not about the volume of your voice. It’s about the actions that someone takes,” Kim said in a telephone interview. “People are yearning for a new generation of leadership. They are yearning for a change in our broken politics.”
Bashaw, a wealthy hotel developer, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money campaigning to defeat Mendham County Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
With Democrats now only holding a slim majority in the Senate, they can ill afford a tough election campaign in a state that is generally considered sheltered for the party. It is unclear how Menendez’s trial will turn out and what impact his candidacy might have on the election campaign. Republicans are keen to exploit his candidacy to divide the Democratic electorate.
“New Jersey families deserve better than this one-party Democratic monopoly that has represented them in Washington for far too long,” Bashaw said.
Kim’s victory came after a grueling start to the primary, when a battle began to loom between him and New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy. Murphy, a first-time candidate and wife of Gov. Phil Murphy, withdrew from the race, saying she did not want to run a negative campaign against a Democrat. On Tuesday, Kim defeated labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and longtime grassroots activist Lawrence Hamm, who remained on the ballot.
Menendez, a three-term senator, did not seek re-election as a Democrat this year but filed to run as an independent in Trenton on Monday. He has said he hopes to be acquitted of the charges this summer.
Kim attacked Menendez and tried to link him to Trump.
“New Jersey has a choice: the chaos and corruption of Bob Menendez and Donald Trump or a policy that supports families struggling to survive,” he said Tuesday.
Kim, 41, rose to prominence by helping immaculate up the Capitol after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The southern New Jersey native returned to his home state to run for Congress in 2018, defeating Republican Tom MacArthur in the 3rd District. A Rhodes Scholar, Kim served in the Obama administration as national security adviser, working at the State and Defense Departments and the National Security Council.
Tammy Murphy entered the contest later last year and quickly won the support of influential party leaders in the county, a sign that she would receive their support and thus the so-called county line – a favorable primary election placement.
But Kim and other candidates filed suit to end the decades-old practice, widely seen as New Jersey party bosses’ attempt to influence the primary, and a federal judge eventually agreed to put an end to the practice.
In the Republican Senate election, Bashaw defeated Mendham County Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner.
Bashaw’s campaign has focused, among other things, on ending the “one-party monopoly” in New Jersey, where the state government is run entirely by Democrats, and sending a conservative to Washington. It’s unclear whether that message will resonate with general election voters, who haven’t elected a Republican to the Senate in more than five decades. There are about a million registered Democrats in New Jersey, and Republicans outnumber them.
After Menendez was indicted for a second time on federal corruption charges, Republicans were bullish that they had their best chance in years to win a Senate seat. But their hopes dimmed somewhat when he announced he would not run as a Democrat.
His candidacy as an independent gives the Republican Party modern hope that Democratic voters may be sufficiently divided to give them an advantage.
“Republicans have the best chance to win this seat in 52 years,” said Republican Senator Mike Testa, a Bashaw supporter.
Serrano Glassner, whose husband Michael Glassner was one of Trump’s first political advisers, also entered the race early and recently received the ex-president’s support at a rally in Wildwood.
Bashaw says he supports Trump, but has been less vocal about his support than Serrano Glassner.
Menendez gave a brief speech on Monday in the New York court where his trial is taking place and said he had not changed his political views, even though he was not seeking the Democratic nomination but was running under his own flag.
Menendez, his wife and two business associates have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that the senator traded promises of official acts for gold bars, cash, a luxury car and a mortgage payment. A third business associate has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the prosecution.
Both President Joe Biden and Trump, who are already confirmed as their parties’ likely candidates, won in New Jersey on Tuesday.
New Jersey voters also chose candidates for the House of Representatives, with some of the most closely watched races having a connection to Menendez.
In the 8th District, his son, U.S. Representative Rob Menendez, won the Democratic primary against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.
Rob Menendez said Bhalla’s intense focus on his father showed he was afraid to attack the congressman directly.
Menendez, a lawyer and former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, won election for the first time in 2022 in northern New Jersey’s 8th District, succeeding Albio Sires.
He was his father’s lone voice, supporting him in the midst of his legal troubles.
The 8th district includes parts of Elizabeth, Jersey City and Newark.
And in the 3rd District, Representative Herb Conaway won the Democratic primary against his colleague Carol Murphy and now ran against Republican Rajesh Mohan, who also won on Tuesday.
It is about the seat that will be vacated for Kim’s candidacy for the Senate.
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This story has been updated to correct the outcome of the 3rd District race.
