With this year’s elections fast approaching, The Whit decided to give students a rundown of all of the candidates for state office, which includes the open Senate seat and open congressional seat for District 1, which Glassboro falls into. Candidates are listed in the order of the columns their names appear on the ballot. 

Senate:

Curtis Bashaw

Bashaw, having spent his life in New Jersey, is the founder and managing partner of Cape Resorts, which operates throughout New Jersey and New York. He received a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and worked to restore Congress Hall and Virginia Hotel in Cape May. 

He is running on a platform of tightening national security, lowering inflation, lowering taxes on businesses, supporting Israel, and self-identifying as a pro-choice Republican. He also touts a commitment to parental rights. 

His website reads, “Throughout his career, Curtis has worked to build communities and bring people together… Curtis understands that public service means putting taxpayers first.” 

Andy Kim

A lifelong New Jersey resident, Kim previously served as a diplomat and is currently serving as the Congressman for New Jersey’s third Congressional District, a position he has held since 2019. 

He is the Democrats’ nominee for Senate. He is running on a platform of increasing the affordability of housing, higher education, and daily life purchases. His platform also heavily focuses on transparency and trustworthiness, as Kim decided to run after Senator Bob Menedez’s alleged corrupt dealings with Egyptian officials came to light.

“I’m somebody that wants to believe that our politics isn’t just for the well-off and the well-connected, that it can be fundamentally for everybody. And I think a lot of younger people in New Jersey are excited about that kind of vision for politics, and like that I’m somebody that is willing to stand up to fight corruption, whether that means that I go up against Democrats or Republicans. It’s about doing what’s right for our community, our state, and our country,” said Kim. 

Joanne Kuniansky

The candidate for the Socialist Workers Party, Kuniansky previously ran for governor in 2021 while working in the deli section at a Walmart. Throughout her life, she worked in oil refineries, railroads, and meat packing plants. 

She and the Socialist Workers Party as a whole are running on a platform of improving wages and working conditions, mostly through union labor, support for Israel and Ukraine, bringing down the cost of living, and protecting social and personal freedoms and Constitutional rights. 

The party’s flyer for their presidential candidate Rachele Fruit reads that the party views Russia’s 1917 and Cuba’s 1959 socialist revolutions as examples, and that “they show working people are capable of taking political power and laying the foundations for a world based not on exploitation, violence, racial discrimination, and dog-eat-dog competition, but on solidarity among working people that recognizes the worth of every individual, regardless of sex, national origin, or skin color – a socialist world. Join us.” 

Christina Khalil

The Green Party candidate is a New Jersey native who grew up in foster care. She earned a master’s in social work from Ramapo University and now works as a therapist and drug and alcohol addiction counselor. She is the youngest candidate for Senate this year at 33 years of age.

Khalil is running on a platform of fighting climate change, universal healthcare, wildlife conservation, campaign finance, and foster care reform, and ending the war on drugs and abuse within the military. 

Khalil’s website has a portion addressing how her policy plans and proposals will be paid for, which reads, “Our primary focus needs to be on resource availability and potential inflation concerns, not on fiscal sustainability. Once elected, a qualified economist will be on staff to assist in drafting these policies into bills, taking into account the most advanced inflation models. Contrary to popular belief, implementing these policies will not necessitate increased tax payments, since tax revenue does not directly fund federal spending.”

Kenneth R. Kaplan 

Having lived in New Jersey his entire life, Kaplan is now the Libertarian Party’s candidate. He has his own real estate company and has a law degree from NYU Law School. 

Kaplan is running on a platform of individual liberties and personal freedoms. Key aspects of the platform he is running on are eliminating federal income tax, decreasing or removing regulation on businesses, simplifying immigration, protecting abortion access, LGBT rights, and ending the war on drugs. 

“The Democrats tend to interfere more with our economic lives, Republicans tend to interfere more with our personal lives, but basically, they both believe that the government has the right to make a lot of decisions for us that Libertarians believe we should be allowed to make by ourselves,” said Kaplan. 

Patricia G. Mooneyham

Mooneyham is running third party with the slogan “Vote Better.” A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Mooneyham has worked in higher education and the corporate sector, as well as touting a record of community service. 

She is running on a platform of healthcare system reform, making voting easier and restoring voting rights, implementing a progressive tax system and investing in public education,

Her website addresses her status as an independent candidate reading, “As an independent candidate, I am free from the constraints of partisan politics, allowing me to prioritize the needs of the people over political agendas. With a focus on leadership that transcends party lines, I am dedicated to finding common-sense solutions to the pressing issues facing our nation.” 

Congress:

Theodore “Teddy” Liddell

Originally from Chicago, Liddell and his family have lived in Gloucester Township for 14 years. He is a West Point graduate and former army captain, currently working as an attorney. 

He describes his platform as “helping people live in a better way.” As far as specific issues, the platform consists of lowering the cost of living, closing the Southern border, fighting corruption, and lowering taxes. 

“I want to be the voice for folks who haven’t had their voice heard. I want them to have a seat at the table to say, ‘hey, look, I can live in this economy.’ Right now they can’t, and I want to create an affordable economy. So part of my platform is to create that economy for people who live in South Jersey,” said Liddell. 

Donald Norcross

The incumbent and Democratic candidate for the position, Norcross has lived in South Jersey his entire life. Originally working as an electrician, formerly serving as president of the Southern New Jersey Building Trades Council and Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council before entering Congress in 2014. If re-elected, he will enter his sixth congressional term. 

His platforms consist of raising wages, protecting reproductive rights, bringing down the cost of living, and expanding educational opportunities.

“Historically, turnout rates on younger Americans have not been as high as some of the older Americans, but it’s probably more important to the younger ones, given that the votes that they take on who’s going to represent them in government are going to be there for much longer their lifetime. I think it’s incredibly important for people to understand that one vote makes a difference,” said Norcross. 

Robin Brownfield

Brownfield is the Green Party’s candidate for New Jersey’s First Congressional District. Brownfield worked as a union organizer at United Farm Workers from the time she was 16 until she was 20 years old. She earned her M.A. in labor studies from Rutgers University. She has also previously taught sociology at Rowan and Rutgers Universities and Camden County College. 

For her platform, she wants to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour, push to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, ensure free higher education at public institutions, and institute a progressive tax policy.

“Politicians here have basically abandoned the people… We’ve been calling for things like Medicare for all, forgiving student loan debt, having building affordable housing, taking measures to stem climate change and protect the environment, provide services for the people of this country that would help them live their lives so that they’re not working and working and working…and still not making ends meet,” said Brownfield. 

Austin Johnson

Johnson is an independent candidate, running without the backing of any party, and is the only millennial and youngest candidate in the district. He is a Rowan alum who has worked in retail, sales, and education at various points. 

His platform focuses heavily on student loan forgiveness and making New Jersey more economically friendly to young adults. He also wants to incentivize paid parental leave and remove costs associated with prenatal, postpartum, and birth care. 

“New Jersey and my district are having a problem with retaining the young people that grow up here. Because housing is becoming so expensive that when you come out of high school or get out of college, you’re not able to buy a house… rents are expensive also, so when you come out of school, you can’t get an apartment, you can’t get a house. And then everything in the economy is getting more expensive,” said Johnson.

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