| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off this Tuesday due to Indigenous Peoples’ Day but will be back in your inboxes on Wednesday. With help from Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
| 
POLITICO illustration/Photo by Invision/AP | What up, Recast family! Ex-President Donald Trump is throwing his support behind Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as the next House speaker. Presidential hopeful Cornel West ditches the Green Party — his second party switch this cycle. And Alabama gets a new congressional map. First, a conversation with the low-key congressman mounting an insurgent campaign to topple indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) Don’t look now, but there may be some serious Kim-mentum brewing in New Jersey. Garden State Democrats, given a choice between the mild-mannered wallflower Rep. Andy Kim and a longtime senator with a penchant for vengeance who is facing federal indictment — well, surprise, they want the dude with no baggage…or gold bars in his possession. That’s according to a new poll of likely Democratic primary voters from End Citizens United // Let America Vote that found that Kim leads Sen. Bob Menendez by a whopping 53 points – 63 percent to 10 percent in a head to head matchup, given that Kim is currently Menendez’s only primary challenger. Kim, perhaps best known nationally for the viral photograph capturing him cleaning up debris in the U.S. Capitol following the Jan. 6 attack, says he felt compelled to jump in the Senate race.
| | | |  | Was The Recast forwarded to you by a friend? Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter here. Every week, we interview influential characters shaking up politics. Let us know whom we should profile next. Email therecast@politico.com.
| | |
The motivating factor came in the form of six words uttered from Menendez during his post-indictment press conference that Kim just couldn’t shake: “I am not going anywhere.”
Since launching his Senate bid, Kim says he’s raised roughly $1 million. That’s an eye-popping sum for a two-week old candidacy, but likely won’t be nearly enough to fend off other possible Senate hopefuls. Among them is Tammy Murphy, wife of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is seriously mulling her own Senate bid. To be sure, more will likely follow in what could potentially be a nasty primary battle on June 4. I chopped it up with Kim under the Capitol Rotunda, not far from where that photograph was snapped. We talked just minutes after the historic House vote to oust Kevin McCarthy from his speakership. He was in a reflective mood, seemingly trying to make sense of his time in the House — and why he’s hoping the Senate can help save democracy. ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: There's quite a bit of news that’s happened — literally just a few minutes ago — a historic vote to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. What are your thoughts? KIM: It's a lot to process. In the less than five years that I've been in Congress, I've been a part of 50 percent of all impeachment votes in this nation's history. I got sworn in during the longest government shutdown in American history. I’ve witnessed the attack of the Capitol, the fifth-longest speaker vote. And now the first-ever speaker to be removed from office. Let's make sure we don't ever think that this is normal. I can feel this sense of just like, “Oh, this is just what the times that we live in are,” you know? But I've been saying this line lately that I still try to hold on to. And I think that's why I love this room so much. The opposite of democracy is apathy. The American people, they see all this chaos, and they just think, “why bother?”
| 
Kim cleans up debris and trash strewn across the floor in the early morning of Jan. 7, 2021, after rioters stormed the Capitol in Washington. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | THE RECAST: Do you draw some parallels to all those events in your short time being in Washington, how they connect together? KIM: It connects this idea that we're losing touch with this idea that we’re part of something that’s bigger than all of us. And I think that is one of the major causes of all this riff. You can say it's social media or it's hyper partisanship, or it's, you know, all of the above that's contributing to this. What I see so much of here in this building right now is … performative governance. They’ve lost track of what this job is about. We're lawmakers, not social influencers, like, let's do the work, right? It's not about how many people heard your voice today. Look, we don't know what comes next. But the fact is that right now, as we sit here in the Capitol Rotunda … we do not have a functioning article, one legislative body of this country. We cannot pass any laws. If there is a, God forbid, an attack against our nation, or some other crisis today, we do not have the ability to actually respond as a nation. That I just find viscerally upsetting, that we cannot figure this stuff out.
| 
| THE RECAST: Let's talk about the other piece of history that happens today in the body that you're attempting to join. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) was sworn in today, offering this split screen of history today on the Hill. What goes through your mind knowing this happened on the same day that Kevin McCarthy is ousted? KIM: Don't judge our country and our government by the worst of us — by the worst of what's here. Sometimes it's hard on days like this. But as you were pointing out with the swearing in of a new senator, that's gonna bring, hopefully, amazing new energy to the work — that's exciting! I hope that people see that. The Senate has its own fair share of problems, but they're working better than we are in the House right now. I don't know how this story ends, but I don't think it ends with the House of Representatives leading the way. Hopefully cool-headed adults on the Senate side will pull us through. THE RECAST: Let’s switch gears and focus on your Senate bid. Clearly, there were some circumstances with the incumbent senator that got you or your juices flowing. And you decided to be the first to jump into this race. How did you come to that decision? Because that was a big move for someone who's relatively low-key.
| | 
Kim, then a candidate for the House, addresses the media Nov. 6, 2018, in Bordentown, N.J. | Mel Evans/AP Photo | KIM: Look, I felt something that I've only felt three times in my career. The first was when I volunteered to go to Afghanistan. I was a civilian working in national security. I was recently engaged. I made this decision to voluntarily leave my fiancee for an undetermined amount of time and go to, at the time, the biggest war zone in 2011. The second was in 2017. I saw my own congressman write the legislation that gutted preexisting condition protections called the MacArthur amendment named after [former Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.)] that allowed the House to repeal the Affordable Care Act. [A Senate vote that year fell three votes shy of repealing the Obama-era health care law.] The day after he announced the MacArthur amendment, I tweeted that I was considering running against him — that was my very first tweet, ever. I was not in politics. No one knew me. I had no idea how to run a campaign, but I just had to do it. [After the indictments] I felt it again. Now, it’s my senator, someone who represents me and my family, who doesn't hit the mark of what level of integrity that I believe New Jersey deserves.
| 
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted in a New York federal court last month on bribery charges. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | THE RECAST: There also appears to be a groundswell of support for your candidacy, both from the AAPI community in New Jersey and nationally. KIM: I mean, it's exciting. I'd be the first Korean American ever in the United States Senate. I'd be the first AAPI elected to the Senate from the entire East Coast of America. Plus, I'd be about the fourth-youngest senator in the country. So a lot of the young people I've been hearing a lot from, like high school kids, college kids in New Jersey, are excited about that possibility of another millennial in the United States Senate. THE RECAST: Is that added pressure? KIM: I don’t feel it as pressure. It motivates me. THE RECAST: Sen. Menendez has not ruled out running again in 2024. So you’re effectively mounting a primary challenge against a long-term incumbent with deep pockets and a lot of connections throughout the state. And you’d be giving up a safe seat to do that.
| 
Kim questions witnesses during a Feb. 28 House hearing on Capitol Hill. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | You also strike me as someone who is mild-mannered which seems, on its face, out of step with what we think of as a New Jersey politician who is running statewide. KIM: But boldness and decisiveness is not correlated to the volume of your voice, or the speed of your movement. Sure, I'm somebody who tries to be a steady hand at the wheel. Right now we're living through history here in the Capitol, here in this country — I don't want to live through history. I want to be with my 8-year-old and my 6-year-old. My fire as a father is what I channel. Look, I worked in national security before. I worked on counterterrorism. You have to be even. You cannot lose your temper and let your emotions guide you. But when I see something that I think is wrong, I'm not gonna freak out. I'm not gonna scream and yell. I'm gonna just fix it. |  | THE RECAST: But there are other figures looming. How do you plan on standing out if this ends up becoming a crowded primary as is expected? KIM: But that’s the politics of yesterday. I've won three of the toughest races in modern New Jersey history, especially the first two. I won a district that Trump won twice. I've been one of the best-performing Democrats in the country when it comes to winning tough races. Plus I'm [one of the only] people who has gone up against three straight self-funders in the last three elections in the entire country. I get it, I’m not central casting. I'm not what someone imagines a New Jersey Democrat or politician looking like. But I know exactly what I need to do to win this thing. ◆◆◆ Alrighty, Recast fam. What. A. Week. We all need a recharge. Before we get out the door, we’ve got some news and fun items for you to explore. Democrats’ New Concern — One of Democrats most vaunted tech tools might be on the verge of shutting down. POLITICO’s Brittany Gibson and Madison Fernandez unpack what’s behind the potential collapse of NGP VAN.
| 
Cornel West announced he's decided to run for president as an independent. | Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo | West Heads for Greener Pastures? — First it was the People’s Party ticket; most recently it was the Jill Stein-aligned Green Party. But it seems long-shot presidential hopeful Cornel West didn’t work out there either. Find out more here. Alabama’s New Congressional District — A federal court has picked Alabama’s new congressional district. It will, in all likelihood, result in the state sending an additional Black representative to Congress after the 2024 election. POLITICO’s Zach Montellaro breaks it all down. Drake’s new album, “For All the Dogs,” is out and streaming today. Make sure you check out his long-anticipated collab with Bad Bunny, “Gently.” In “Make Me Scream,” longtime lovers/horror fanatics Tempestt Bledsoe and Darryl Bell host a sp0oky competition where celebs and their buddies make their way through haunted mazes and try not to scream. It’s streaming now on Prime Video. If you haven’t already — and you’re a cozy mystery fan — check out “Mrs. Sidhu Investigates,” starring Meera Syal as a nosy caterer whose catering gigs keep landing her at the scene of a crime. Naturally, she’s one step ahead of the police, solving murders before the credits roll. Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book of short stories, “Roman Stories,” translated from Italian, is out now. We can’t get enough of Jungle’s new album, “Volcano,” and the amazing dancers featured in their music videos, which all together, form a mini-movie of their singles. The latest, “Holding On,” dropped this week. | 
| TikTok of the Day: Dark humor
| 
| | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
