Curtis Bashaw doesn’t want his opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Andy Kim, to get appointed to Bob Menendez’s U.S. Senate seat, and instead sent Gov. Phil Murphy a list of nineteen Democrats he thinks would be better choices, including comedian Jon Stewart and former Gov. Richard Codey, who is also funny.
Menendez was convicted on sixteen counts of corruption on Tuesday and is now facing calls for his resignation. Kim has said he would accept an appointment if offered.
“Should there be an open Senate seat, I am calling upon Governor Murphy to do the right thing and follow New Jersey tradition: rise above politics and appoint a statesman or stateswoman who will honorably carry out the duties of senator in caretaker fashion until New Jerseyans go to the polls this November to make the choice for themselves who their senator will be…me or Andy Kim.”
Acknowledging that the seat will go to a Democrat, Bashaw’s list includes a group of current and former officeholders and government officials, some more serious than others.
Bashaw’s list includes former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), Lt. Governor Tahesha Way, and former Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), Steve Rothman (D-Englewood), and Patrick Kennedy, a former DCCC chairman from Rhode Island who now lives in Brigantine.
He’s also proposing State Sens. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro), and Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch), Assemblymen Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) and former State Sens. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Nia Gill (D-Montclair), and New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, an announced candidate for governor in 2025. Former Democratic State Chairman Tom Byrne and former Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto are among the Democrats Bashaw is recommending.
But Bahaw has some misses: former Rep. Rob Andrews now lives in Arizona, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Director Anne Milgram moved to New York after her term as attorney general ended in 2010.
“To be clear, my politics are different than these individuals, but more importantly, I disagree with Andy Kim’s shameful idea that power should be taken away from New Jersey voters this November just so he can try to get a leg up for November’s election against me,” said Bashaw. “New Jerseyans trust that Governor Murphy will do the right thing, not what Andy Kim wants.”