New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim makes history as first Korean American elected to Senate

Rep. Andy Kim (D-03) is poised to become the first Korean American senator in U.S. history after the Associated Press projected he defeated his Republican opponent, hotelier Curtis Bashaw, in Tuesday’s general election.

Kim, the Boston-born and Burlington County-raised son of Korean immigrants, soared to victory after a roller-coaster campaign in which he capitalized on voters’ long-simmering resentments over New Jersey’s notoriously nepotistic politics and powerful party bosses.

He was the first Democrat to announce a bid for the seat in September 2023, just a day after its longtime Democratic incumbent, former Sen. Bob Menendez, got federally indicted in a global bribery scheme. But he soon found himself with a formidable foe — Tammy Murphy, the governor’s wife, who party bosses quickly lined up to back after she announced her bid for the seat.

Public backlash was swift, and Kim took on the party bosses in court, challenging New Jersey’s unique ballot design that gives an advantage to party favorites who snag what’s known as the county line.

His subsequent court victories, along with Murphy’s withdrawal from the race and Menendez’s corruption conviction and resignation last summer, made the past year one of the most tumultuous in New Jersey politics.

Kim, 42, will be the first U.S. senator from South Jersey in over a half-century. His win wasn’t surprising: New Jersey Republicans have not won a contest for U.S. Senate in New Jersey since the state reelected Sen. Clifford Case in 1972. Kim also raised and spent more cash than Bashaw.

When he launched his campaign, Kim vowed to restore trust and integrity in government — a promise that even cynical voters believed, given the AP photo that went viral of Kim cleaning up the Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Kim, a father of two young boys and a former diplomat, is a three-term Congressman in the 3rd district who was first elected to the House in 2018, when he defeated the Republican incumbent, Rep. Tom MacArthur, by a slim margin in a district Donald Trump won in 2016.

In June’s primary, Kim beat two other Democrats, civil rights leader Larry Hamm and labor activist Patricia Campos-Medina. Thursday, besides Bashaw, Kim also beat four third-party candidates, Kenneth Kaplan, a Libertarian; Christina Khalil of the Green Party; Joanne Kuniansky of the Socialist Party; and Patricia Mooneyham, an independent.

Kim is expected to assume his Senate seat a bit early to replace Sen. George Helmy, a former chief of staff for Gov. Phil Murphy, who was sworn in in September to serve Menendez’s unexpired term until a general election victor is certified.

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