New Jersey Republican Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw took to social media to confirm that he froze during his recent debate with Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) because he “never stopped to get a bite to eat.”
The two men were squaring off Sunday during a 90-minute debate when Bashaw began slurring his words and stopped speaking.
“I was out campaigning all day, and I never stopped to get a bite to eat,” Bashaw said in a statement to X.
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! https://t.co/RobZOgo4nP
— Curtis Bashaw (@Bashawforsenate) October 7, 2024
After Kim rushed over to his GOP opponent’s podium to ask if he was ok, the moderator told the audience, “I think maybe we need to take a commercial break and address some issues here on the stage.”
Bashaw left the stage for about 10 minutes to recuperate from the medical episode before returning to the podium to finish his debate with Kim successfully.
“I got so worked up about this affordability issue that I realized I hadn’t eaten so much food today,” he told the audience.
In later remarks to reporters, he added, “I think it’s 73,000 miles on the car since January 2023 and working really hard.”
The debate, which was the first between the two men, comes as the GOP looks to flip the Senate seat on Election Day. The Democratic Party holds a razor-thin, two-seat majority in the upper chamber.
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As a gay Republican who supports abortion rights, Bashaw is somewhat of an anomaly as a GOP candidate. He currently trails Kim by under four percentage points, according to polling by the Hill.
Interim Sen. George Helmy (D-NJ) is filling the New Jersey seat ahead of November after former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) resigned from the Senate in August over corruption charges.