‘Andy Kim, a federal congressman in the House of Representatives who challenged the U.S. Senate for the first time among Korean-Americans, was selected as the Democratic candidate in the New Jersey primaries on the 4th (local time).
On the day of the New Jersey primary election, Kim defeated competing candidates, civic activist Lawrence Hamm, and labor movement leader Patricia Campos-Medina to become the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate election in November, as reported by the Associated Press and Reuters.
According to Reuters, early in the vote count, election research firm Edison Research estimated that Kim would secure the Democratic candidacy with a vote share of 80.5%.
Kim, a second-generation immigrant who rose to fame at a young age as a three-term federal congressman, known as a symbol of the ‘American Dream.’ If he wins in the main election on November 5th, he will become the first Korean-American to enter the U.S. Senate.
After the voting ended, Kim posted a message on the social networking service X (formerly Twitter) expressing gratitude for the incredible victory, saying, “We have achieved amazing results over the past 8 months.”
The election took place with Kim anticipated to be smoothly elected as the Democratic candidate following the voluntary withdrawal of prominent competitor Tammy Murphy.
Kim completed his primary and secondary education in southern New Jersey, attended Deep Springs College in California, and graduated from the University of Chicago. He also obtained a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Oxford in the UK.
In September 2009, Kim joined the U.S. Department of State as an Iraq specialist and served as a strategic advisor to the U.S. military commander in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011. From 2013 to February 2015, he served as a senior advisor for Iraq at the Department of Defense and the National Security Council, contributing to the campaign against the Sunni militant group, the Islamic State.
In the midterm elections in November 2018, running as the Democratic candidate for the 3rd district of New Jersey, he defeated the Republican incumbent Tom MacArthur, becoming New Jersey’s first Asian-American federal congressman.
The New York Times recently highlighted Kim in an article, stating, “He has become the most likely candidate to succeed Congressman Menendez” and describing his strategy as “not seeking permission from anyone.”‘