CRANFORD, NJ –CBS News projects that Representative Andy Kim has won the New Jersey Democratic Senate primary for the seat of federally indicted Senator Bob Menendez. He is expected to face Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw in November.
With 32% of the votes counted, Kim led the next closest challenger, union organizer Patricia Campos Medina, by a margin of 78% to 14%, while activist Larry Hamm finished in third place with 7%. The most recent election results can be found on the CBS New York results page.
“When I brought it up the day after the indictment of Senator Menendez, it was about giving the people of New Jersey a choice, but ultimately what that really seemed like was we had to give the people of New Jersey a fair choice, and for a while in these primaries, that wasn’t something that people could get their hands on,” Kim said Tuesday night after his projected victory.
Despite his ongoing bribery lawsuit, Menendez told CBS New York’s Christine Sloan on Monday that he had submitted more than 2,000 signatures to have his name placed on the November ballot. to operate independently.
“Senator Menendez says he’s running as an independent Democrat. There is no such thing as that,” Kim said on Tuesday evening.
Early in the race, Kim also had to contend with a fourth candidate, Tammy Murphy, wife of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. In the spring, Kim asked a federal court judge to change the provincial voting system which he believes gave Murphy an unfair advantage. However, she dropped out of the race the end of March.
“Right now, the sitting senator that we’re trying to replace is on the court, and I think this is something that’s causing so much frustration among voters in New Jersey and across the country,” Kim said recently.
On the Republican side, businessman Curtis Bashaw was expected by CBS News to easily win his race against Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner and former Tabernacle deputy mayor Justin Murphy.
“Inflation is too high,” Bashaw said recently. “We need better jobs in our state. People want a safe border. They want to support law enforcement.”
Glassner was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Her campaign did not respond to requests for comment from CBS New York.
Although New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, the stakes are high as Democrats hold a slim majority in the House. The Republican Party sees Menendez’s independent run as a potential wedge that could boost their chances in the fall.
Bashaw focused his campaign in part 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. It’s unclear whether that message will resonate with voters in the general election. Registered Democrats in New Jersey outnumber Republicans by about a million.
Kim, a mild-mannered three-term congressman credited with helping clean up the Capitol after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, launched his bid the day after Menendez’s indictment, saying it was time for the state to move on.
Murphy entered the race later last year and quickly gained support from influential county party leaders, a sign that she would earn their support and with it the so-called county line — or favorable positioning on the primary ballot.
But Kim and other candidates filed a lawsuit seeking to end the decades-old practice, which is widely seen as a way to give New Jersey party bosses power over primaries, and a federal judge agreed to put an end to that.
Kim, 41, is from southern New Jersey and returned to his home state in 2018 to run for Congress, defeating Republican Tom MacArthur in the 3rd District. Kim, a Rhodes Scholar, served in the Obama administration as a national security advisor and worked in the Departments of State and Defense, as well as the National Security Council.
Menendez, his wife and two business associates have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that the senator exchanged the promise of official actions for gold bars, cash, a luxury vehicle and a mortgage payment. A third business associate has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for prosecutors in the case.
GOP leaders were optimistic that after Menendez’s indictment, they had the best hope of winning a Senate seat in the years to come. But that hope faded somewhat when Menendez said he would not run for office as a Democrat.
After Menendez ran as an independent, the Republican Party is hoping that Democratic voters will be divided enough to play in the Republicans’ favor.
“Republicans have the best chance to win this seat in 52 years,” said Republican Sen. Mike Testa, a Bashaw supporter.
Meanwhile, Menendez’s son, Rep. Rob Menendez Jr. is the projected winner of New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District race.
