Republican Curtis Bashaw’s nomination fueling GOP hope in deeply Democratic New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Southern New Jersey developer Curtis Bashaw’s Senate nomination over Donald Trump’s preferred candidate in Tuesday’s GOP primary and the possibility that embattled Sen. Bob Menendez’s independent campaign could split Democrats have fueled fresh GOP hopes that they can put a reliably blue New Jersey Senate seat in play this fall.

It’s a fight national Democrats weren’t anticipating, but it’s one they’ll have to win if they hope to maintain control of the closely divided U.S. Senate.

Bashaw, 64, a hotel developer and political newcomer who lives with his husband in the Victorian resort town of Cape May, appears poised to shift away from the right-tilting politics of the GOP primary in a state where Republicans haven’t won an election for the Senate in 52 years. He defeated Trump-endorsed Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner on Tuesday and will face Democratic Rep. Andy Kim in the general election.

Kim, who has shown a knack for holding his own in the rough-and-tumble world of New Jersey politics, easily won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primaries. Menendez, a longtime Democrat, filed to run as an independent in the fall but is currently in New York federal court on corruption charges. He’s pleaded not guilty.

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