Democratic U.S. Rep. Andy Kim was elected Tuesday to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw for the seat that opened when Bob Menendez resigned this year after his federal conviction on bribery charges.

Kim, a three-term congressman from central New Jersey, becomes the first Korean-American in the Senate. In a recent interview, he said that accomplishment would validate his parents’ decision 50 years ago to immigrate to the United States. He was the state’s first Asian-American to be elected to Congress when he defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018.

A former Obama administration national security aide, Kim was a Rhodes Scholar and has a Ph.D. from Oxford. He’s presented himself as an unassuming, hard-working official and gained national attention in 2021 when he was spotted cleaning up the U.S. Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection, bagging trash.

“It pains me to my core to see the struggle we are going through,” Kim told supporters in a hotel ballroom following his victory. “The very foundation of our democracy is rendered fragile. We are at a moment of profound anxiety about what comes next for our country.”

Kim challenged people to see the upcoming 250th anniversary of America's independence as “a reminder that the greatness of America is not what we take from this country but what we give back.”

“Let us use that extraordinary milestone as a moment of healing,” he said.

Kim's victory keeps a reliably Democratic seat under his party’s control. He is also expected to take up the seat sooner than January because of Menendez’s resignation. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has said that George Helmy, who is serving the remainder of Menendez’s term, will step down and the winner of Tuesday’s election would be appointed.

Kim, 42, was first elected to Congress by defeating Republican Tom MacArthur, an ally of former president Donald Trump ally. He’s now been re-elected three times. During the campaign, Kim said he would oppose tax breaks for the wealthy and support abortion rights.

Bashaw personally financed his campaign with at least $1 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. He gained the GOP nomination in June when he defeated a Trump-backed rival. A first-time candidate, he’s served on several boards including for Stockton University and a state tourism panel.

The Senate race began chaotically for Democrats. The party, which controls the Legislature and the governorship, found itself with an incumbent senator facing a second federal corruption trial. Menendez was convicted on bribery charges that he traded his office for cash, gold cars and a luxury car, and has resigned. But he’s denied the charges — as he did in his earlier trial, which ended in a hung jury.

This time, though, Democrats abandoned him. Kim launched his own race in defiance and rejection of Menendez the day after his indictment last fall.

But it wasn’t an easy path to the nomination. First lady Tammy Murphy launched a campaign that was well-funded and widely backed by insiders. Kim upended politics in New Jersey when he sued in federal court to stop a practice whereby party leaders were allowed to influence how ballots are drawn up, widely seen as helping preferred candidates. The judge, in an initial ruling, sided with Kim. Murphy dropped out and Kim won easily in June.