Democratic Candidate Sails Past Republican Pick For Senate In Sought After State

0
254

In new polling, though there were many respondents who identified themselves as undecided, Democratic Senate candidate Andy Kim — currently a Congressman from New Jersey, where he is running for the state’s Senate seat currently occupied by Bob Menendez — leads Republican contender Curtis Bashaw.

Bashaw just recently prevailed in New Jersey’s GOP Senate primary against a candidate endorsed by ex-President Trump, though the state as a whole has strongly — not exclusively — leaned Democratic in general elections.

The new polling was done by co/efficient. Naming only Kim and Bashaw for respondents, the Democratic contender had 41 percent of the support, while Bashaw had 34 percent. Those identified as undecided were a whopping 25 percent of the total. (Considering precedent, there could be a name recognition issue.) The outcome wasn’t substantially different when Menendez himself — who currently faces federal criminal charges — was included for poll participants. The incumbent, who left open the option of running for re-election later as an independent, got just three percent.

Democrats are generally believed to be facing a somewhat tough map of Senate elections this year, with the party defending seats in Republican-leaning states including Ohio and Montana. There’s also a Senate seat on the ballot in Arizona, where the situation is more unique, with Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema not seeking re-election and thereby seemingly leaving presumed Democratic support in the race to current Congressman Ruben Gallego.

As for the presidential race, results from polling are mixed. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who are well on their way to an expected general election rematch later this year, met in Georgia this week for a first debate of the election cycle, though it was unclear that it would move the needle much. Time will tell.