NEW JERSEY– Democratic U.S. Rep. Andy Kim was elected to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw for the seat open when Bob Menendez resigned this year following his federal corruption conviction.

Kim, a three-term congressman from central New Jersey, becomes the first Korean-American in the Senate. In a recent interview, he said the accomplishment would validate his parents’ decision 50 years ago to immigrate to the United States. He was the first Asian American elected to Congress when he defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018.

A former national security aide in the Obama administration, Kim was a Rhodes Scholar and a Ph.D. of Oxford. He presented himself as an unassuming and hard-working public servant and gained national attention in 2021 when he was spotted cleaning up the U.S. Capitol after the January 6 insurrection, putting trash in bags.

“It pains me very much to see the struggle we are going through,” Kim told supporters in a hotel ballroom after her victory. “The very foundations of our democracy are weakened. We are experiencing a moment of deep anxiety about the future of our country.”

Kim challenged people to view the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence as “a reminder that the greatness of America is not what we take from this country but what we give back.”

“Let’s use this extraordinary milestone as a moment of healing,” he said.

Kim’s victory maintains a reliably Democratic seat under his party’s control. He is also expected to take office before January due to Menendez’s resignation. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said George Helmy, who is serving the remainder of Menendez’s term, would resign and the winner of Tuesday’s election would be decided.

Kim, 42, was first elected to Congress by defeating Republican Tom MacArthur, an ally of former President Donald Trump. He has now been re-elected three times. During the campaign, Kim said he would oppose tax breaks for the wealthy and support abortion rights.

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Bashaw personally financed his campaign with at least $1 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. He won the Republican Party nomination in June after defeating a Trump-backed rival. A first-time candidate, he has served on several boards, including Stockton University and a state tourism panel.

The Senate race got off to a chaotic start for Democrats. The party, which controls the Legislature and governorship, found itself with an incumbent senator facing a second federal corruption trial. Menendez was convicted of corruption for trading his position for cash, gold cars and a luxury car, and resigned. But he denied the accusations – as he did during his previous trial, which ended in a hung jury.

But this time, the Democrats abandoned him. Kim launched her own run of contempt and rejection of Menendez the day after he was indicted last fall.

But the path to the nomination was not easy. First lady Tammy Murphy launched a well-funded campaign with broad insider support. Kim shook up New Jersey politics when he sued in federal court to end a practice where party leaders were allowed to influence how ballots are cast, widely seen as helping preferred candidates. The judge, in an initial decision, sided with Kim. Murphy dropped out and Kim won easily in June.

Among the House races, Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was re-elected to a full two-year term in the 10th District, which includes Newark and part of Jersey City. She won a special election in September to fill the final months of Democratic Rep. Donald Payne Jr.’s seat before his death in May. McIver is the second Black woman to represent New Jersey in Congress, joining current Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.