No matter who wins a Senate seat representing New Jersey in November, the race will make history, giving South Jersey its first senator in decades. “South Jersey has been sorely underrepresented statewide. We could use a seat at the table and a voice in the room,” U.S. Rep. Andy Kim said in a recent interview. The three-term Democratic representative for the 3rd District faces hotelier Curtis Bashaw, who won the Republican nomination in the June primary. Either man would be a historic choice for other reasons. Kim would be New Jersey’s first senator of Asian heritage, while Bashaw would be the state’s first openly gay senator. This is Bashaw’s first election campaign, although he has hinted at a run for years. He is best known as the owner of Congress Hall in Cape May, a historic hotel that had been essentially derelict when he undertook its renovation in 1995. Built in 1816, the hotel reopened in 2002.
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The name came when its original owner, Thomas Hughes, was elected to Congress in 1828, according to Bashaw. Another former South Jersey congressman, Charlie Sandman, also once owned the property, he said, saying he loves the symmetry of its ownership. “As a South Jersey native, I find it disappointing that we’ve have had a dearth of statewide politicians from South Jersey — and it shows in what we get back from Washington, D.C. In fact, the last U.S. senator was Republican Bob Henrickson from Woodbury in 1948,” Bashaw said. “I hope to help Congress Hall live up to its name by being the third owner to go to Washington, D.C. It’s time for South Jersey to have representation from a pro-growth, pro-law enforcement U.S. senator who will deliver real results for the southern part of our state.” There have been three debates between the two candidates, at which they sought to sharpen their differences. Still, they appeared to remain cordial, certainly in contrast to the single presidential debate this year. In the early part of the first debate, as Bashaw appeared to falter, leaning heavily on his podium, Kim rapidly approached, saying “are you OK?” and indicating they should take a break. After the second debate, billed as a conversation, a delegate for Donald Trump suggested Kim’s blue tie with red and white stripes was in fact a North Korean tie. A spokesperson for Kim’s campaign dismissed the suggestion, saying the tie simply matched his suit. In a message on the X social media platform, Kim, whose parents immigrated from South Korea before he was born, described the allegation as xenophobic. Bashaw also condemned the allegation, writing on X, “As someone who has been stereotyped and on the wrong end of hateful incorrect assumptions my entire life, I wholeheartedly denounce baseless accusations based solely on someone’s background or appearance.” He said he and Kim have policy disagreements, but he described his opponent as a good man and a patriotic American. In a recent interview, Kim said the candidates do not know each other well, but that there should be mutual respect between adversaries, and that the American people have made clear they want less divisive elections. Most of the campaign has been more about their differences. Kim’s campaign has focused on anti-corruption stances, with one ad featuring Kim stating that he is running for Senate “to put our families above the wealthy and elite insiders that give our state a bad name.” In election materials, the Bashaw campaign has sought to paint Kim as a career politician who is too far left for New Jersey. Bashaw has emphasized his business experience, arguing there are too many regulations. Still, most observers see Kim as the likely choice in a state that has not voted in a Republican senator since 1972. “The Democrats have largely rallied behind Kim,” said Alyssa Maurice, director of research at the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University. “It’s Kim’s race to lose.” She said registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans in New Jersey. Beyond South Jersey, neither candidate has much name recognition, she said. South of the Cape May Canal, Bashaw appears to be universally known, but aside from a stint as executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, he has not had much statewide bona fides. During the primary, Bashaw said far more people were familiar with Congress Hall than knew his name. A recent Stockton poll showed 81% of respondents were unsure about or unfamiliar with Bashaw. Kim fared better, with 55% either not familiar with him or unsure about him. Kim’s favorability rating was at 27% in the poll, with 9% for Bashaw. In Wildwood this year, former President Donald Trump vowed to win New Jersey, although most polling indicates it will go to Vice President Kamala Harris handily. At that event, Trump backed Bashaw’s primary opponent, even as Bashaw vocally supported Trump. As the general election nears, Bashaw has seemed more willing to create some distance between himself and a former president with fiercely loyal support but who a majority of New Jersey voters view unfavorably, according to the same Stockton poll. “Here is where we can see Bashaw grappling with how to strike that balance,” Maurice said. “He’s not fully denouncing Trump, but he’s not fully embracing him, either.”
A three-term Democratic congressman from Burlington County, Andy Kim, 42, is barreling toward a historic U.S. Senate race win: If elected, he would be the Senate's first Korean-American, its fourth youngest member, and the first senator from South Jersey since Robert Clymer Hendrickson of Woodbury left office in January 1955. Moments after seeking to link Kim with convicted former Sen. Bob Menedez at the first debate, Bashaw suggested Kim would try to “put him in a box.” “But I am Curtis Bashaw. No one else. I’ve been married to my husband for 22 years. I am pro-choice, pro-parent, pro-business,” he said. “I believe in common sense.” Bashaw has made immigration a significant part of his campaign, seeking to tie Kim to Harris. “Andy Kim and Kamala Harris have no plan to secure our border, while deadly fentanyl pours into our communities and violent criminals are set free into our country,” states a narrator in a Bashaw ad, calling Bashaw the only law-and-order candidate. Kim was born in Boston and grew up in South Jersey, and attended the University of Chicago and Magdalen College, Oxford. He served in Afghanistan as a civilian adviser with the Department of State while Barack Obama was president and has served three terms in Congress. He and his wife, Kammy Lai, have two sons and live in Moorestown, Burlington County. Bashaw grew up in Camden County and spent his summers at the Jersey Shore, working summer jobs, including at Congress Hall. He earned a master of business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Cape May with his husband, Will. Cape Resorts, Bashaw’s company, owns eight hotels, along with restaurants, retail outlets and Beach Plum Farm in West Cape May. One of the men will replace George Samir Helmy, a Democrat appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy to fill the seat after the resignation of Menendez. Both Kim and Bashaw have sharply criticized Menendez, who was found guilty on charges of bribery and corruption, a high-profile case that included details about gold bars found in a search of his home and allegations of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. Menendez resigned in August and dropped plans for an independent run that could have drawn Democratic support from Kim. Kim’s campaign took on a party endorsement system that appeared set to give the party line to Murphy’s wife, Tammy Murphy, and likely the nomination. Kim sued and obtained a preliminary injunction against the party line practice in the June primary, at least for Democrats. Tammy Murphy later withdrew from the race.
