Rep. Andy Kim wins Senate seat in New Jersey, becoming first Korean American in the U.S. Senate
The three-time Democratic congressman beat Republican Curtis Bashaw to become New Jersey’s first Asian American senator and the first Korean American to serve in the Senate.
Andy Kim, the millennial son of South Korean immigrants and three-term Democratic congressman, was elected to the U.S. Senate in a historic win that upended New Jersey politics and gives Kim the distinction of being the country’s first Korean American senator.
Kim, 42, who was raised in Marlton and now lives in Moorestown, takes the seat held for 18 years by former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who resigned after being convicted of federal bribery and corruption charges.
Kim defeated Republican Curtis Bashaw, 64, the hotelier and developer from Cape May, promising voters a new kind of New Jersey politician, generationally and morally.
Addressing his supporters on Tuesday evening in a ballroom at the DoubleTree hotel in Cherry Hill, Kim said he chose the venue because it was where his parents lived when they first moved to New Jersey.
The Kims, he said, “had no family to lean on here, no friends to help us get started. But New Jersey welcomed us.”
Standing with his two sons, ages 9 and 7, he said, “I am now dedicating the rest of my service to this nation to address one singular question, which is: How do we heal this country?”
During the primary race, Kim blocked the path of first lady Tammy Murphy, who also sought the Democratic nomination, and won a court decision throwing out a long-established ballot design singular to New Jersey that benefited candidates favored by county political parties.
Then, he out-campaigned Bashaw, who had tried to chart a course to the Senate as a gay man supportive of both abortion rights and Donald Trump.
On Tuesday night, supporters crowded into Kim’s election night party, including members of the Korean press, felt they were witnessing history.
“For us, it’s just a really big deal,” said George Choe, an elder of the Korean United Church of Philadelphia where Kim was baptized. “Not only for the Korean American community. He’s the first Asian American from the East Coast in the Senate. He’s a young Senator. ... It’s a historical thing for us.”
It was the image of Kim in a blue suit, on his hands and knees cleaning up trash from the rotunda floor of the Capitol the day after the Jan. 6 insurrection that vaulted him into the national consciousness.
Kim is a Rhodes scholar who served as a national security official and diplomat in the Obama administration, including stints advising generals in Afghanistan. He was elected to Congress in 2018, upsetting incumbent Tom MacArthur, an architect of then-President Trump’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
Kim twice won a district Trump won.
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Yet, despite the remarkable circumstances surrounding the race, it was overshadowed for many voters by the presidential contest.
At the busy polling place at Winslow Township Senior Center, voters had little to say about the Senate race.
“We’re all worried about the main event, not the undercard,” said Sean Brennan, 42, a union laborer who voted for Kamala Harris, as well as “that Kim guy, Andy.” Other voters interviewed could not recall the name of either Kim or Bashaw, and knew little about the historic nature of Kim’s candidacy as a Korean American.
Kim will also be the first U.S Senator from South Jersey since 1955. And, he will be the fourth-youngest member of the Senate, a distinction he drove home on the campaign trail, reminding voters that as the father of two young boys, the pressing issues of the country were “not just theoretical.”
A Phillies fan, guitar player, Star Wars and Lego super fan, and self-described “bagel aficionado,” he is married to Kammy Lai, a tax attorney.
During the Senate primary, Kim successfully sued to have a judge throw out the long-standing Democratic primary ballot design in New Jersey that allowed county Democratic parties to give an edge to their chosen candidate. His crusade against the so-called “county line” rallied grassroots Democrats to his side, and ultimately led Tammy Murphy to drop out of the race.
During the campaign, he emphasized his record on lowering prescription drug costs, his foreign policy experience, and advocacy for abortion rights. He said if elected, he would advocate a “decade of building” to address housing needs.
Gov. Phil Murphy, who never officially endorsed Kim, has promised to swear in the winner on Nov. 27, when the election is certified. Sen. George Helmy, whom Murphy appointed as the interim senator, has said he would resign to allow the winner to take office.