By The newspaper
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim won his party’s nomination for a Senate seat in New Jersey, setting up a general election race against Curtis Bashaw, who defeated a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez will also be on the ballot after declaring his intention to run as an independent amid a federal corruption trial.
“New generation of leadership”
Kim launched her campaign after charges against Menendez were announced last year.
“Leadership is not about the volume of your voice. It’s about the actions they take,” Kim said in a phone interview. “People are hungry for a new generation of leadership to step up. “They are hungry for change in our broken politics,” the AP reported.
On the other hand, Bashaw is a wealthy hotel developer who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money campaigning to defeat Mendham County Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, who had the backing of former President Donald Trump.
“New Jersey families deserve better than this one-party Democratic monopoly that has represented them for too long in Washington,” Bashaw said.
It is unclear how Menendez’s trial will end and how his candidacy could affect the race. Republicans are eager to exploit his campaign as a wedge to divide the Democratic vote, AP noted.
Menendez filed in Trenton to run as an independent. He has said that he hopes to be acquitted of the charges this summer.
Andy Kim served in Obama administration
Andy Kim, 41, gained attention for helping clean up the Capitol after the January 6, 2021 insurrection. A native of southern New Jersey, he returned to his home state in 2018 to run for Congress, defeating the Republican Tom MacArthur in the 3rd District.
Kim served in the Barack Obama administration as national security advisor, working in the departments of State and Defense, as well as the National Security Council.
Bashaw supports Trump
Curtis Bashaw focused his campaign on ending the “one-party monopoly” in New Jersey, where the state government is run entirely by Democrats, and on sending a conservative to Washington.
Bashaw says he supports Trump, but has been less outspoken in his support than Serrano Glassner.
“New Jersey families deserve better than this one-party Democratic monopoly that has represented them for too long in Washington,” Bashaw said.
With information from AP
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