Rep. Andy Kim (D‑NJ) won the Democratic primary Tuesday evening for New Jersey’s Senate seat, beating two opponents in a bid to replace embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D‑NJ).
The Associated Press called the race for Kim at 8:14 p.m., shortly after the polls closed in the Garden State. With only 8% of the ballots counted, Kim led with nearly 80% of the vote.
Menendez, currently on trial in New York for federal public corruption charges that include bribery and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar, did not file to run in the Democratic primary. Facing almost certain defeat against Kim, the third-term senator instead filed to run on Monday as an independent in the general election by collecting petition signatures to appear on the ballot.
“It displeases me to have to go this route, thanks to overzealous prosecutors, bu …