Andy Kim becomes New Jersey's first Asian American senator, winning seat vacated by Bob Menendez
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim has defeated challenger Curtis Bashaw after a historic New Jersey Senate race. The win makes Kim the state’s first Asian American senator.
NBC News projects that Democratic Rep. Andy Kim has won New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race, defeating Republican Curtis Bashaw to fill the seat of former Sen. Bob Menendez.
Kim's win makes him the state’s first Asian American senator. In his first interview after his projected victory, Kim said he was still taking it all in.
“I’m here with my mom and my dad. I’m here with my wife, with my two sons — three generations in the same room,” said Kim, 42. “It’s a lot to process, but I’m really proud.”
Kim won in a race for a seat that was vacated by Bob Menendez, a longtime Democratic senator who resigned in August after he was convicted in July on charges of taking bribes in exchange for official government acts. Kim said he hopes constituents see him as “somebody who’s trying to usher in a new era of politics.”
“We live in a time of such great distrust in government, and I really do think that that poses a deep, deep concern and threat to our society,” Kim said. “That’s a big reason why I stepped up to run for Senate, jumped in the day after the indictment of the senator, because I felt like we needed to change course.”
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