New Jersey Republican Senate candidate has establishment support, but not Trump’s

Bashaw defeated Christine Serrano Glassner, the wife of former Trump adviser Michael Glassner, in the Republican primary. Trump has since remained silent on the New Jersey Senate race, which pits Bashaw against Democratic front-runner Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ).

Trump’s silence persists despite two recent endorsements of Bashaw, from Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). The endorsement from Daines, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, indicates that the Republican establishment is behind him.

Daines and Collins, along with fellow senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), were reportedly in attendance at an NRSC fundraiser for Bashaw on September 11. The NRSC confirmed to Washington Examiner that Daines supports Bashaw’s campaign.

Bashaw campaign spokeswoman Jeanette Hoffman said the establishment was backing him because “Curtis is the kind of Republican candidate who can make history and win in the Garden State.”

Without specifically referring to Trump, Bashaw’s campaign said it would “welcome any other individual or organization wishing to support him” and that the candidate is focused on issues that matter to voters.

The Trump campaign declined to comment on the report. Washington Examiner as to whether the former president would lend his support.

A GOP strategist weighed in on Trump’s effect on Bashaw’s race in a statement to Washington Examinerstressing that it is more important for candidates to prove they are “worthy” of Trump’s support, rather than having it.

Trump’s endorsement would, however, bolster support among state Republicans for Bashaw, who has run as a more moderate, anti-abortion alternative to Christine Serrano Glassner, who has avoided voicing her support for Bashaw since her defeat in a heated primary between the two.

It’s possible that Trump declined to endorse Bashaw because Republicans don’t often win statewide elections in New Jersey and he wants to avoid losing his support. But that didn’t stop him from endorsing former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland, a heavily Democratic state, who then quickly backed out of support in part because he risked losing support.

Bashaw’s support for Trump has often been questioned by Christine Serrano Glassner, who called him a “coward” and said Bashaw had called Trump a “threat to democracy.” Bashaw has said he would vote for Trump, but opposed Bashaw’s proposal. The New York Post when asked what the top ticket is.

“We’re running our campaign in New Jersey right now. And that’s what I have to say. My name is Curtis Bashaw, I’m running for Senate in New Jersey. I’m not Donald Trump. He’s running his campaign,” he said.

In another comment to the outlet, Bashaw said his pro-Israel stance could attract support from Jewish voters who are turning away from Kim but will not vote for Trump in the presidential election.

“We’re going to have people in the Jewish community who are not going to vote for Donald Trump, who are going to vote for Curtis Bashaw because of Andy Kim’s position on Israel,” Bashaw told the outlet.

Bashaw’s campaign likely lost steam with former Sen. Bob Menendez’s decision to drop out of the race, as he was expected to siphon Democratic votes away from Kim if he had been able to remain as an independent. The same could be said of President Joe Biden’s decision to hand the Democratic nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris endorsed the Senate and House candidates after Biden reduced his support.

An August poll commissioned by Bashaw’s campaign showed the Republican trailing Kim by five percentage points, 38 percent to 33 percent, among a sample of 600 likely voters. A June poll of 810 likely voters showed Kim with a seven-point lead, 41 percent to 34 percent.

As Bashaw looks to make up ground in the days remaining before the general election, he is lagging behind Kim in fundraising. Kim has more than $4 million in his campaign fund, while Bashaw has just over $1 million. The Republican is largely self-funded, most recently contributing $1 million to his campaign in June.

Bashaw and Kim will participate in three debates in October, the first on October 6, and then on October 15 and 22. These debates will be an opportunity for both candidates to make their mark in the final weeks before early voting begins on October 26.

Bashaw is ultimately unlikely to win in New Jersey, a traditionally Democratic state that has voted for Democratic senators in every election since 1972. But if the polls are correct, this year’s race will be the closest since 2000, when Democrats won the state by just 3 points.

While Bashaw doesn’t have Trump’s backing, he has another major endorsement from the State Troopers Fraternal Association, which backed New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy in January before she lost the Democratic primary to Kim. The union represents more than 1,900 New Jersey state police officers.

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Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) declined to nominate Kim to the open state Senate seat when Menendez resigned in August, instead appointing his former chief of staff, George Helmy. He said Semaphore In August, he said there were “two very good candidates” running for Senate in New Jersey, although he said he would vote for the Democratic ticket.

Murphy dismissed rumors that he was involved in “some kind of middle school drama between me and Andy Kim.” But the governor’s refusal to openly support Kim is unusual. It bears some resemblance to Trump’s refusal to support Bashaw, albeit in radically different contexts.