As the newly minted Democratic nominee for United States Senator, Andy Kim feels well-prepared to take on Curtis Bashaw because, as he tells it, he’s beaten him three times already.
Kim made it clear that he intends to paint Bashaw, a Cape May hotelier making his first run for public office, as an out-of-touch millionaire.
“I have a particular expertise in beating Republican multi-millionaire, self-funding businesspeople from South Jersey. That’s literally all I’ve done in politics when it comes to elections,” Kim told the New Jersey Globe in a telephone interview today. “I’ve only run against, Republican multi-millionaire self-funders from South Jersey, and I beat them every single time.”
In 2018, two years out of Barack Obama’s White House, Kim challenged Tom MacArthur, who self-funded his way to two terms in the House. He beat self-funders David Richter in 2020 and Bob Healey in 2022.
“This one has a different name than the previous ones, but I’ve run against Curtis Bashaw before in these previous races,” Kim said.
Kim also dismissed the idea that Bashaw could credibly run as a moderate Republican in the general election after winning the GOP primary by seven points.
“The only thing I’ve seen him do is endorse a convicted felon for president, so I don’t really see how I can call him a moderate,” he stated.
Bashaw, who had a history of opposing Trump, endorsed him in April. Five weeks later, at a Trump campaign rally on the beach in Wildwood, the former president endorsed Bashaw’s opponent, Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner.
Kim thinks Bashaw is running “because he thinks this will be a really interesting next phase of his life.”
“I’ve seen that fall flat three times before. We know how to run this effort, and we’ll definitely be able to remind the people of New Jersey why they can’t stand this kind of politics,” he said.
The three-term congressman also criticized Bashaw’s bid to play both sides on the abortion issue. Bashaw says he is personally pro-choice but supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision because he believes those decisions ought to be made by individual states.
“I saw that exact same Republican campaign talking points memo where they’re trying to find a way to salvage huge electoral problems that they face when it comes to women’s reproductive rights,” said Kim. “It’s just like it’s so painful to see Curtis Bashaw twisting himself in knots.”
Kim said the independent candidacy of the incumbent Bob Menendez and the possibility that he could pull votes away from him in November concerns him – but he’s not certain how big a concern it will be.
“I’m not really sure how much he’s potentially able to pull. I’m also under the assumption he’s really not going to spend money towards it. I’m assuming a lot of this all is an effort to make sure he can keep his coffers open for paying his legal bills. That’s disappointing,” Kim said. “If that’s true, which I suspect it is, it would again be another example of him putting his own personal benefit ahead of what’s right for our country.”
Kim’s lawsuit to end county organization lines and switch to office block ballots in the Democratic primary changed the way elections are run in New Jersey – probably for good, and on both sides of the aisle.
By the time U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi issued his ruling, the filing deadline had already passed.
Kim thinks that’s why county Democratic organizations did relatively well on June 4.
“The races were already pretty much locked in by the time the lawsuit was determined, so it’s not like new people were able to jump in,” Kim explained. “It takes time and resources to be able to build out campaigns. Some of those races were probably more competitive than they would have been with the county lines like.”
In the meantime, Kim quickly transitioned from primary candidate to general election nominee, and made it clear he’s taking Bashaw seriously.
“I only have one speed, especially when it comes to the general,” he said. “ I don’t take things for granted, so we’re going to run a strong race.”