Gay Republican Suffers Medical Episode During Senate Debate
Curtis Bashaw started slurring his words and stopped speaking entirely mid-sentence during his debate with Andy Kim.
Curtis Bashaw, the Republican nominee for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat, appeared to have a temporary “medical episode” during his debate against Democratic U.S. Rep. Andy Kim on Oct. 6.
While answering a question, the 62-year-old gay hotelier started slurring his words and stopped speaking entirely mid-sentence. Kim asked if he was all right. “Yeah,” Bashaw replied.
Kim asked Bashaw’s team if they wanted to assist the Republican, at which point a Bashaw campaign staffer came onstage and held him by the arm. Meanwhile, the debate moderator, Laura Jones, paused the debate for a commercial break to “address some issues,” sparking speculation on social media as to what happened.
According to the New Jersey Globe, Bashaw was checked out by paramedics and first responders before returning to the stage and resuming the debate. He later blamed the incident on not eating.
“I got so worked up about this affordability issue that I realized I hadn’t eaten so much food today,” he said. “So I appreciate your indulgence.”
He also addressed the issue on X, writing, “Thank you all for the well wishes! I was out campaigning all day, and I never stopped to get a bite to eat. Excited to eat pizza with my fantastic volunteers at the post-debate party tonight!”
When approached by Newsweek about Bashaw’s condition post-debate, a spokesperson responded, “Curtis is fine. He was on the campaign trail all day and didn’t get a chance to eat. He stepped offstage and had a protein bar and some Coke and came back to debate five minutes later.”
Both candidates will face off in the November 5 general election. They are seeking the seat left open by the resignation of Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez in August after being convicted on federal bribery charges.
Kim, a three-term congressman, decided to challenge Menendez for the seat following the senator’s indictment last year. Menendez — who barely fended off a stronger-than-expected challenge in 2018 — eventually decided to try and run as an independent, earning a spot on the general election ballot.
Kim and Bashaw have sparred over a host of issues, with Bashaw seeking to portray Kim — who won two of his three elections in a district that Trump won at the presidential level — as far to the left of the average New Jersey voter.
Kim, meanwhile, seeks to portray Bashaw as a stalking horse for an extremist right-wing social agenda that will be pushed by Senate Republican leaders in the upcoming Congress.
In their debate, the two clashed over reproductive freedom, with Kim accusing Bashaw of being ideologically inconsistent by claiming to support the right to an abortion while also supporting the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark abortion-rights case Roe v. Wade.
“I am worried about Mr. Bashaw’s ability to make decisions about Supreme Court justices, as we’ve seen him make a decision about who should be the next president,” Kim said.
Bashaw sidestepped his support of former President Donald Trump and attempted to market himself to moderate voters by emphasizing his business background and more liberal stances on social issues, including supporting what he called “freedom in the home.”
“I don’t think government should tell me who I can marry,” he said. “I don’t think it should tell a woman what she can do with her reproductive health choices.”
He later added, “I am a moderate, common-sense person that will work to be a voice for New Jersey.”
The contentious nature of the tighter-than-expected race first came to a head last month when the statewide LGBTQ rights group Garden State Equality endorsed Kim, who is straight, over Bashaw.
At the time, the Bashaw campaign accused the group of engaging in “partisan politics.” However, the group appeared to suggest that Bashaw’s support of LGBTQ rights was limited to gay rights, such as same-sex marriage specifically, and that Bashaw was insufficiently supportive of transgender rights, particularly those issues relevant to transgender youth.
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