Former President Donald Trump is taking sides in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, endorsing Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner in the race for the seat of indicted three-term incumbent Bob Menendez.
“She’s a fantastic woman…I’m giving her my complete and total endorsement,” said Trump. “They said her (opponent) is a Christie person, so I said I’m endorsing you immediately.”
Speaking before a massive crowd at a rally on the beach in Wildwood tonight, Trump told attendees, “Go out and vote for Christine.”
Trump’s support threatens to upend the GOP Senate race, where Serrano Glassner faces self-funder Curtis Bashaw, a moderate self-funder who had opposed Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024 before endorsing him last month.
A Cape May hotelier, Bashaw had emerged as the front-runner for the Senate seat after scoring fourteen organization lines, but polls during the presidential primaries showed that 71% of New Jersey Republicans supported Trump and just 25% said they would consider voting for Christie, a former two-term governor.
Bashaw was a major contributor to Christie’s presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2024; he donated to Libertarian Gary Johnson in the 2016 general election but says he voted for Trump.
Christie has been quietly supporting Bashaw, and the two share some campaign advisors. One of them, Mike DuHaime, was part of a team that sought to determine whether Christie would have a path to the presidency as an independent running as the No Labels candidate against Trump and President Joe Biden.
“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,” stated Serrano Glassner. “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.”
Hudson County GOP Chairman Jose Arango, who was at the Wildwood rally, said Republicans “need to come together and get behind her immediately.”
“Curtis Bashaw should get out of this race, and I’m calling on every Republican chairman to endorse her,” Arango said. “We need to be united with our president because together we will make New Jersey Great Again with Donald Trump. NJ & Trump: Perfect Together.”
Bashaw said his campaign to capture the Senate nomination on June 4 will continue.
“While the former President may have endorsed his long-time employee’s spouse last evening, I know that our campaign is, on its merits, the only one that can win this race for all New Jerseyans,” he said. “I’m the only candidate who can defeat the Biden Democrats in November.”
One of Trump’s leading New Jersey supporters, George Gilmore, said Ocean County Republicans will stick with Bashaw, who won their convention.
“Since the Ocean County Republican Organization endorsed Curtis Bashaw for U.S. Senate back on February 29, 2024, and the ballots are being printed, that endorsement is irreversible,” Gilmore said. “The Ocean County GOP will stand by its endorsement of Curtis Bashaw for U.S. Senate.”
This story was updated on May 12 at 2:18 PM with a comment from Bashaw and at 4:51 PM with comment from Gilmore.