Andy Kim elected US senator for New Jersey

By Alvin Wu
Domestic Affairs
Andy Kim elected US senator for New Jersey

Congressman Andy Kim delivers his victory speech at his campaign headquarters at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cherry Hill on election night. ANDY KIM FOR NEW JERSEY/Video

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 9 (ZFJ) — Congressman Andy Kim, a Democrat, was elected U.S. senator for New Jersey, making him the first Korean-American senator.

Kim led Curtis Bashaw, the Republican candidate, by more than 300,000 votes.

Kim thanked his team and supporters in a victory speech at his campaign headquarters in the DoubleTree Hotel in Cherry Hill on election night. He observed that his family had lived in this hotel for several weeks when they first moved to N.J. and were searching for a home to rent.

“Regardless of what the final results are from this election, our nation is on an unsustainable trajectory, but let there be no doubt that this is a new era of politics rising,” said Kim. “The same old, same old is done, and we’ve shown New Jersey that there’s a better way for the people.”

Kim secured the seat vacated by Bob Menendez, who resigned the position and left the Democratic ticket for this election after his conviction on federal bribery charges.

He has been serving as the U.S. representative for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District (which encompasses most of Burlington County and parts of Mercer and Monmouth counties) since 2019 and is in the middle of his third term as a congressman.

Kim previously served as a diplomat. He has worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House National Security Council, and, as a civilian adviser in Afghanistan, Generals David Petraeus and John R. Allen.

He became famous nationwide after the news circulated a photo of him cleaning trash left over from the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021.

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