Andrew Kim (D), Curtis Bashaw (R), and four other candidates run in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate election on November 5, 2024.
The election will fill the Senate seat formerly held by Bob Menendez Sr. (D), who first took office in 2006. Menendez resigned on August 20, 2024, and withdrew from this race following his indictment on federal corruption charges. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appointed George Helmy (D) to the position for the remainder of Menendez’s term on September 9, 2024.
Kim represents New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District. He entered the race after Menendez’s indictment and said, “This is not something I expected to do, but I believe New Jersey deserves better. We cannot jeopardize the Senate or compromise our country’s integrity.” Kim says he has made “ending corruption a pillar of my work and my campaign.” He is also focusing on affordability and lowering costs and says he wants to “find solutions for those working at family farms and mom-and-pop shops so that everyone…can succeed.”
Bashaw is a businessman who has worked in real estate and hospitality. He says he won the Republican nomination because “People want political outsiders and businesspeople, and I think I fit that position the best.” Bashaw is campaigning to improve the economy and says, “We can’t just keep spending and expect to grow…We need to have fiscal discipline and not overspend, and that will help us grow back to prosperity.” Bashaw says he does not support a national abortion ban and that he “believe[s] these issues are best decided by a woman and her doctor, and not by the federal government.”
The Bergen Record’s Charles Stile wrote both candidates “will try to convince voters that they are the credible torchbearer of change.” Kim contrasts himself to Menendez and says in his primary victory speech, “New Jersey has a choice: the chaos and corruption of Bob Menendez and Donald Trump, or a politics that works for families struggling to get by.” Bashaw says his lack of political experience is an asset and said in an interview that New Jerseyans “want outsiders, business people, to go to Washington to get stuff done for them. They’re tired of the D.C. insiders, the career politicians…There are winds of change in this state.”
According to the most recent fundraising numbers, Kim has raised $8.9 million and spent $5 million, and Bashaw has raised $2.6 million and $1.5 million. To read more about campaign finance reports, click here.
Christina Khalil (G), Kenneth Kaplan (L), Joanne Kuniansky (Socialist Workers Party), and Patricia Mooneyham (I) are also running for this seat.
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