TOMS RIVER, NJ—Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has endorsed his candidate in the 2024 U.S. Senate GOP primary election. That election will choose a nominee to take the seat of embattled New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Mendham Mayor Christine Glassner will face off against Curtis Bashaw.
At his rally on the beach in Wildwood, Trump said he would endorse Glassner after it was learned that Bashaw financially supported former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s failed presidential bid this year.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Bashaw donated $3,300 to Christie’s anti-Trump fueled political campaign.
“She’s a fantastic woman; I’m giving her my complete and total endorsement,” said Trump. “They said [Glassner] is a Christie person, so I said I’m endorsing you immediately.”
Glassner has just one problem. She will not be on the ballot line with President Trump because the Ocean County GOP, which essentially pushed Christie into the governor’s office twice, has already endorsed Bashaw, and the ballots are already printed. Even if they weren’t, officials clarified that they are sticking with their nominee.
To add insult to injury, Trump made the endorsement during his speech at the rally in Wildwood. Bashaw is a hotelier in nearby Cape May.
“I gratefully accept President Trump’s endorsement, and I look forward to serving as his steadfast ally in Washington and working hand-in-hand with him to Drain the Swamp and Make America Great Again,” Glassner said of the endorsement. “New Jersey deserves better than the corrupt political establishment that gave us ‘Gold Bar Bob’ Menendez, and America deserves better than the unmitigated disaster of the Biden regime.”
Now, Republicans are calling for Bashaw to withdraw from the race to present a unified endorsement of a pro-Trump candidate to voters in November.
Bashaw criticized Trump, saying the President endorsed Glassner simply because she is the wife of one of the former President’s longtime employees.
Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore, who was pardoned by Trump said the county is not changing its endorsement in light of Trump’s endorsement.