Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and GOP Senate nominee Curtis Bashaw debated for the second time Tuesday night in an hourlong conversation that touched on the economy, abortion, and more.
The debate was the second of three scheduled meetings between Kim and Bashaw, who are seeking to replace disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez. NJ Spotlight News, which hosted the event with Rowan University, called the face-off a “conversation,” but the pair jousted several times during the hour.
Bashaw repeatedly labeled Kim as a “D.C. insider” — Kim called the premise “offensive,” and said he has experience serving the country that shouldn’t be discounted on those grounds. Bashaw said he’s more concerned about “bloated and inefficient” bureaucracies rather than people who have served the country.
Tuesday night’s conversation was largely similar to their first debate earlier this month. Bashaw, who has more work to do to improve his statewide name recognition, touted his experience as a businessman to show he’s capable of improving affordability in the Garden State. Kim, a three-term congressman, said Republicans can’t be trusted with issues like abortion rights.
“I believe the best way to cure it isn’t to spend more money, isn’t to try to do price caps, isn’t to try to have mandates or subsidies, but is to actually unshackle our businesses, let them grow, trust our businesspeople to grow the economy, make it bigger,” Bashaw said.
“I believe that abortion is constitutionally protected. My opponent, Mr. Bashaw, does not,” Kim said. “I think a woman’s right to choose her ability to make decisions about her own body is fundamental to what it means to have freedom.”
Both candidates were sharp throughout the conversation. The first debate was temporarily interrupted when Bashaw experienced an apparent medical issue, froze while speaking, and nearly fell. No such interruption came this time around.
Bashaw continued to hit Kim hard on illegal immigration. The Republican said he approves of legal immigration and employs many first- and second-generation Americans, but that the number of people crossing the border illegally is an “absurdity.”
“We should decouple border security from immigration policy,” Bashaw said. “And it’s OK for a country to have a boundary with ports of entry and have those be lockable.”
Kim said border security measures haven’t been approached from a serious, bipartisan perspective in Congress, and that proposals are weaponized by one party or another for political purposes.
“We have only 682 federal immigration judges as a country,” Kim said. “They have 3 million pending immigration cases. It would take 10 years for them to just get through those cases.”
Moderators David Cruz and Briana Vannozzi asked the candidates about the Biden administration’s decision to send about 100 American troops to Israel to operate a THAAD missile defense system. Kim said he supports the deployment of defense systems like THAAD but didn’t specify his thoughts on American boots on the ground in Israel. Bashaw similarly said that Israel has a “right to run its war” but did not specify whether he thought American troops should be soldiered in Israel.
“I think you have allies for a reason,” Bashaw said. “They’re your friends, and you trust them, and I don’t think that war is the type of thing that you can micromanage.”