Andy Kim wins New Jersey race to replace disgraced US senator

Representative of the US Democratic Party. Andy Kim won elections on Tuesday to become the newest member of the U.S. Senate from New Jersey, according to a quick projection from the Associated Press, vying for the open seat once held by the disgraced Robert Menendez – and punctuation marks dramatic campaign What overturned the power structure of the party boss in the state.

Kim defeated Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw V general election become the first Asian American senator from New Jersey and the first Korean American senator from any state.

The AP called the race at 8 p.m., just before polls closed, and only 3% of the votes had been counted. As of 9:20 p.m., Kim was leading with nearly 60% of the vote to Bashaw’s 34% with 56% of the votes counted.

Kim, 42, a three-term congressman who stunningly outlasted the state’s first lady for his party’s nomination and led a successful lawsuit to overturn the controversial primary voting system, will move to the Senate to take Menendez’s seat. , a fellow Democrat, has held office since 2006.

Menendez released him when resigned in August after he was found guilty of federal corruption, including accepted gold bars as a bribe.

Kim, the son of Korean immigrants, told supporters he was having a “hard time getting over it” as he gave his victory speech in Cherry Hill.

“Look at what we were able to do,” said the former Rhodes Scholar and national security analyst. “A year ago, few people believed that we would be able to show what we had achieved. We showed that politics is not some exclusive club.”

Moments after the AP called the race, Bashaw wondered whether it was too early to say for sure. But he conceded the race about 90 minutes later while speaking to fans at the Old Mill Inn in Basking Ridge.

Bashaw, 64, is an openly gay moderate Republican who has been tough on the former president. Donald Trump During his election campaign, he said he was proud of “an honest campaign based on politics” and “played by the rules.”

“America is best governed by the middle, not the extremes,” Bashaw said, adding that his campaign is not about “tearing people down.”

“We’re building something,” he said.

Kim’s victory continues a half-century winning streak for Democrats, who have not lost a U.S. Senate race in the Garden State since 1972, when Richard Nixon was still president and the Yankees had won only 20 of 27 World Series titles.

It all came as Democrats sought to maintain minimal control of the Senate, the upper house of Congress, in a critical presidential election year and in the wake of shocking allegations against Menendez.

Both Kim and Bashaw, a wealthy hotel developer and first candidatepromised to restore the integrity of the chair after the scandal.

Bashaw, who defeated the challenger Endorsed by Trump in the party’s primary, he was an atypical GOP candidate in modern times: a pro-choice centrist vying to become New Jersey’s first openly gay member of Congress.

The GOP believed the race was their best chance in years to end decades of losses in the blue state as Bashaw courted independent and unaffiliated voters who are critical to a Republican challenger winning a statewide race.

But Kim gained momentum in a head-turning Democratic primary in which he emerged as the anti-establishment candidate. Congressman representing central and south Jersey’s 3rd District, Kim, best known for helping clean up the US Capitol after the riots on January 6 – jumped into the race the day after Menendez was charged.

He stayed home even after the first lady Tammy Murphygovernor’s wife. Phil Murphyreceived support from several of the state’s leading Democrats.

Kim also sued in an attempt to end “district lines,” a decades-old (and long-debated) system in which candidates endorsed by powerful district party leaders receive the top spot on the primary ballot. Murphy has benefited the most from the system, prompting backlash from critics who say they support her. by nepotism and her husband’s power – accusations the Murphys have denied.

Riding on a wave of progressive support, Kim defeated Murphy in most county party conventions where secret ballots were held. Murphy received the majority of the public’s votes.

Murphy ended up dropping outsaying she doesn’t want to fight a big battle against a fellow Democrat in an important year. Then the judge sided with Kim in his lawsuit, declaring the voting procedure unconstitutional and shock to the political universe of the state. Kim later won easily the party’s nomination even though some party bosses remain privately unhappy with him.

The general election was also intriguing, with Kim and Bashaw arguing over abortion and immigration, but never with the same acrimony as in other races.

Notably, Bashaw said he supports passing a federal law allowing abortion rights in all 50 states, but Kim noted that Bashaw also praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Bashaw had the difficult task of balancing Trump in a navy blue tank top. He defeated the mayor of Mendham Christine Serrano GlassnerTrump supporter, Trump supporter to win the Republican nomination. But while Bashaw said he would vote for the former president and Republican presidential nominee, he also distanced himself from Trump.

Asked Tuesday night to talk about the difficulty of running with Trump at the top of the field, Bashaw said, “I’m Curtis Bashaw. I’m not someone else. And I am a businessman who has built a business pay by pay, budget by budget. I feel that the harshness in our politics is not as sharp as we would like. I think New Jersey is a moderate state and people just want to get things done. So I’m proud to have my own lane in this race.”

Kim ultimately led in fundraising and has maintained a double-digit lead in recent years. public votealthough many voters said they knew little about either candidate.

Menendez filed an independent bid to keep his seat, but dropped it after his conviction.

Kim will be New Jersey’s first new senator since then. Corey Booker — now the state’s senior senator — was elected in 2013. Moorestown resident Kim will also become the first U.S. senator from South Jersey since 1955.

He may not have to wait long to be sworn in. After Menendez’s resignation, Governor Murphy named his former chief of staff, George Helmyto temporarily hold this place until the result of this race. He promised to name a winner once the election was certified.

That means Kim could take office this year, giving him an advantage over other freshman senators who won’t be sworn in until January.

Four independent or third-party candidates also ran: Kenneth Kaplan, Christina Khalil, Joan Kunianski and Patricia Mooneyham.

Kim said in his speech that this is a “new era of rising politics.”

“Same old, same old, done,” he said. “We showed there is a better way to do this.”

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Brent Johnson can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on X in @johnsb01.

Susan K. Livio can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @SusanCLivio.