Curtis Bashaw wins Republican primary for Senate and will face off against Andy Kim in November

Cape May County hotelier and developer Curtis Bashaw won the Republican New Jersey primary Tuesday for U.S. Senate.

Bashaw, who won by a substantial margin over Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, will oppose Democratic Congressman Andy Kim in the November election. Sen. Bob Menendez, who is on trial in New York on corruption charges, filed paperwork Monday to run as an independent in the general election.

Bashaw, 64, campaigned by criticizing Democrats over inflation and border security, and, notably, held out on endorsing former President Donald Trump, who supported Serrano Glassner, until several months into his campaign.

Still, Bashaw stopped short of a full embrace of the former president, unlike his Trump-endorsed primary competitor, Serrano Glassner. He instead capitalized on strong establishment support at the county level.

Bashaw’s win was a victory for the more moderate wing of his party, even as the GOP continues to boost MAGA-supporting candidates nationwide.

State Sen. Michael Testa (R, Cumberland), who is Bashaw’s campaign chair, said that having Menendez in the race could work to Bashaw’s advantage.

“I think he could be a real wrench in the Democrat machine,” Testa said.

Bashaw, a political newcomer, began his campaign in January. “Before I entered this race, they told me it couldn’t be done,” he said late Tuesday night in declaring victory. “I believe it’s time for a political outsider who can deliver results.”

His notable achievements include the renovation of Cape May’s historic Congress Hall Hotel, and he leaned heavily into his reputation as an entrepreneur and a political outsider throughout his campaign.

“Whatever the Biden administration wants to say about the macroeconomic indicators, it’s not being felt around kitchen tables or in the storage rooms of our small businesses,” Bashaw told The Inquirer in May. “There’s a pressure point on inflation that’s demoralizing people.”

While Serrano Glassner attracted Trump’s seal of approval and a favorable reputation with his fiercest supporters, Bashaw garnered crucial support by appealing to county GOP officials.

“They said we couldn’t win this primary against the odds, against a very powerful endorsement, but we did and we did it together,” Bashaw told supporters Tuesday night.

Bashaw entered Tuesday’s election endorsed by 13 of New Jersey’s 21 county parties, compared with the six that backed Serrano Glassner.

New Jersey’s “county line,” a unique electoral system which offers county-backed candidates a premier space on the primary ballot, likely aided Bashaw’s victory.

While Democrats eschewed the county line system this year after Kim successfully challenged it in court, Republicans kept the system in place.

Testa said he did not view the outcome as any referendum on Trump.

The Serrano Glassner campaign, he said, “failed at painting Bashaw as anti-Trump,” he said. He said Bashaw supports Trump and his policies.

“We are going to get to run against two entrenched Democratic politicians,” Bashaw said. “Andy Kim is no moderate. He’s a far left D.C, insider. Andy Kim doesn’t represent our values.”