Representative Andy Kim won a decisive victory in the Democratic Senate primary in New Jersey on Tuesday, beating two other candidates and setting up what could be a lively general election campaign in the fall.
The incumbent senator, Robert Menendez, did not appear on the Democratic ballot. He is standing trial in Manhattan on federal bribery, corruption and obstruction charges. But on Monday, he filed paperwork that will allow him to appear on the November ballot as an independent candidate.
Mr. Kim, 41, beat Lawrence Hamm, who headed Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign in New Jersey, and Patricia Campos-Medina, a workers-rights scholar and organizer.
Even before Tuesday, Mr. Kim had vanquished a third potential Democratic rival. Tammy Murphy, the first lady of New Jersey, entered the primary but ultimately bowed out.
“What I hope people see in me is someone who wants to do the work,” Mr. Kim said in an interview.
He campaigned on ending New Jersey’s political cronyism, and took a large step in that direction during the primary campaign. He was a plaintiff in a lawsuit that forced officials to redesign Democratic ballots across the state, ending a longstanding practice of giving preferential positions to candidates endorsed by local party leaders.
New Jersey voters have not sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate in more than half a century. But several candidates saw a glimmer of opportunity in the chaos created by Mr. Menendez’s legal woes. On the Republican side, voters were choosing among four candidates: Curtis Bashaw, a 64-year-old Cape May developer; Christine Serrano Glassner, 60, the Mendham Borough mayor; Albert Harshaw of Jackson, a Navy veteran; and Justin Murphy of Tabernacle, a former deputy mayor.
Republican votes may become more meaningful in November if Mr. Mendendez, who would be a high-profile independent, actually appears on the ballot, potentially splintering the vote.