During the campaign, MacArthur sought to portray Kim as a D.C. elitist and outsider. In an ad run by the
New Jersey Republican Party, Kim was described as "Real Fishy" in
Wonton font on a picture of dead fish. The ad was criticized for its racial undertones.[9]
The race was considered too close to call on election night, but the next night, an influx of absentee ballots in
Burlington County, home to the majority of the district's voters, gave Kim a 2,500-vote lead, prompting him to declare victory.[17] MacArthur conceded eight days later.[18] With a margin of victory of fewer than 4,000 votes, or slightly over 1% of votes cast, this was New Jersey's closest congressional race.[19][20] Kim became the first
Asian American U.S. representative from New Jersey.[21]
Kim ran for reelection in 2020. In the general election, he faced Republican nominee
David Richter, a businessman. Richter originally planned to run against then-Democrat
Jeff Van Drew in the second district, but after Van Drew switched parties, Richter decided to run against Kim in the third district.[22] Although the race was projected to be close, Kim won by 53% to 45%,[23] even though the district again voted for
Donald Trump.[21]
After
redistricting, Kim's district became considerably more Democratic: Joe Biden would have won the reconfigured district by 14.1 percentage points in 2020, and Phil Murphy would have won it by 1.6 percentage points in 2021.[24] Kim won by a margin of 11.8 percentage points (55.4 to 43.6), defeating the Republican candidate, yacht manufacturer Robert Healey, Jr.[25]
In February 2019, Kim introduced his first bill, the Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act (SAVE Act).[28] In May, the SAVE Act passed the House, 234–183. The bill, designed to lower prescription drug costs and included a provision to prohibit brands from stopping generic versions of drugs from being sold on the market, was not expected to pass the Senate.[29]
In June 2019, Kim co-sponsored an amendment to stop a pay raise for members of Congress.[30]
Kim voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the
117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis. This results in a Biden Plus/Minus score of +45 indicating significantly higher support for Biden's priorities than would be expected given the makeup of his district.[32]
In 2021 and 2022, Kim was included on
Gold House's annual "A100" list, which honors those of Asian Pacific descent, "who made the greatest impact on culture and society over the past year".[33][34]
Kim supports banning members of Congress from trading stock, saying in December 2021 that he "disagree[d] strongly" with speaker
Nancy Pelosi, who defended the practice.[36]
On September 23, 2023, Kim announced that he would mount a
primary challenge to incumbent Democratic senator
Bob Menendez in the
2024 Senate election, shortly after Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges.[44][45] Kim was the first major Democratic to challenge Menendez. He said he felt disappointed by the corruption charges, and that he sought to restore integrity in politics.[46] Kim was soon challenged by New Jersey First Lady and former
Goldman Sachs analyst
Tammy Murphy, the wife of incumbent Governor
Phil Murphy.[47] Her candidacy was accused of being
nepotistic, with some papers describing Kim as an "underdog" and "insurgent" taking on the "
New Jersey political machine".[48][49][50][51][52][53][54] He released his first campaign ad on 14 November 2023, which showed him interacting with voters in a unscripted conversation.
Early on in the race he picked up some endorsements, most notably from Senator
John Fetterman of
Pennsylvania, various U.S. Representatives such as
Brendan Boyle and
Grace Meng (from Pennsylvania and
New York respectively), along with various local party chapters, mayors and some unions.[55][56] Additionally, he was endorsed by former National Security Advisor
Susan Rice and former New Jersey Congressman
Tom Malinowski; both had worked with Kim during his time at the
State Department.[57][58] When Kim was endorsed by the
College Democrats of New Jersey, they were reportedly pressured to endorse Murphy instead. Kim criticized these efforts, stating "We seek fairness in our democracy and must not deviate when it advantages us."[59] He later accused "party elites" of trying to "put their thumb on the scale" in the election.[60] The
National Organization for Women (NOW) endorsed Kim over Murphy in late February.[61]
On February 26, Kim’s legal team filed a federal lawsuit in the District Court of New Jersey, seeking the abolition of the
"county line" ballot system, being joined by opponents Patricia Campos-Medina and Larry Hamm. Kim referred to the system as “unconstitutional” and sought a general redesign of ballots.[62][63] After Murphy dropped out of the race, Kim said he would continue his efforts against the county line procedure.[64]Politico reported Kim would stand to benefit from the line due to a lack of serious opposition, but the lawsuit went forward.[65] Federal judge
Zahid Quraishi struck down the county line on March 29 2024, and directed clerks to instead print ballots with candidates organized by office in randomized order for the 2024 primary election.[66] The
Third Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block the ruling on April 4, 2024, ahead of a deadline to finalize ballot designs for the primary on April 5.[67]
After Murphy declined to participate in what would have been the first primary debate, Kim discussed his candidacy and platform alone with the New Jersey Globe on February 4.[68] The two debated on February 18, in a live streamed event again hosted by the New Jersey Globe.[69][70] Polls conducted since October have shown Kim maintaining a lead over Murphy with a plurality of support. On February 10, Kim secured New Jersey's
Monmouth County Democratic Party nomination, the first in the state, having won the county convention with 265 votes to 181 for Murphy.[71][72] The result was seen as an upset, as it was Murphy's home county, and various county officials had already endorsed her.[73] Kim later won the endorsement of his home county of
Burlington in February 24 with 90% of the vote.[74][75] Ultimately, Kim would win 17 of the 19 county line endorsements.[76]
On March 24, 2024, Murphy announced that she was suspending her campaign.[77] In his statement after Murphy announced she was dropping out, Kim asked supporters to show respect to his former rival, and reminded them that “we are all a part of something bigger than all of us.” After Murphy’s campaign suspension, Kim was considered a presumptive nominee, and many predicted an easy victory in the general election.[78] Various news outlets, including The Hill, considered Murphy dropping out a victory for Kim against “machine politics” in New Jersey.[79][80][81]The campaign development, along with the Menendez scandal, helped boost Kim’s campaign further and spurred hope of greater reform.[82][83]
Political positions
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adding to it. (February 2024)
When Roe v. Wade was
overturned by the
Supreme Court in 2022, Kim said he was “outraged” by the decision, referring to it as an “injustice”.[90] In 2024, he said he would vote to codify reproductive rights into federal law. In late December 2022, Kim voted to enshrine
interracial and
same-sex marriage protections into federal law.[91]
Kim married Kammy Lai, a tax attorney, in 2012.[101][102] They have two sons, one born in 2015 and the other born in 2017.[103][104] His family lives down the street from his childhood home in
Moorestown,
South Jersey.[105]
One of Kim's passions is making
bagels, and has said that were he not a politician, he would have started his own bagel shop. He taught bagel making classes over
Zoom in April 2021 in an effort to raise money for his
2022 re-election campaign.[113][114]
Kim also plays the guitar, owning at least three.[115]
^"Andy Kim to Hold Campaign Kickoff Rally in Marlton". Insider NJ. March 2, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2020. Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-03) will officially launch his reelection campaign at a rally in Marlton on Saturday March 14th, at 2pm. The rally will be held at Rice Elementary, the public school the congressman attended in the Kings Grant neighborhood where he grew up.