If, like me, you have no life, and you eschewed baseball (because in this town it breaks your heart) for watching Tuesday night’s New Jersey Senate debate between Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and political outsider Curtis Bashaw, you just may have walked away feeling like there is some hope after all.

Why? Because, it turns out, blue New Jersey just might be the spot for ending the purge of reasonable, patriotic Republicans. (RIP Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Charlie Dent, et al.) They were once endemic to our politics, remember? Principled “bleeding-heart conservative” leaders like Jack Kemp time and time again embraced bipartisan solutions and put country over party. As opposed to taking de facto loyalty oaths to a deranged cult leader.

Enter political newcomer Curtis Bashaw, who trails Kim in the polls by only a few percentage points and who ran circles around the more experienced candidate Tuesday night — even after a rough start in which Bashaw seemed to almost faint. Sadly, that moment was the only thing qualifying for “news” in our desultory media ecosystem, when, in fact, the real focus ought to have been on what Bashaw’s kitchen table-centric performance signaled — that the key to resuscitating democracy has to include singling out for praise what Bill Maher refers to as “good enough Republicans” when chiding doctrinaire progressives.

“You want to trust our citizens. We’ve invited them to a place of refuge. Hospice is the root word in hospitality.” — Curtis Bashaw

You won’t hear many Squad, or Squad-adjacent, folks admit it, so wedded are they to political purity, but we need two functioning parties in America. That’s why I’m always scouring the landscape for profiles of modern day political courage — Republicans willing to strike some independence from Dear Leader’s cult, like Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in our own backyard.

Bashaw is a pro-choice, pro-growth, gay (married 22 years), practical leader who, in his business and civic leadership roles, has been willing to work with anyone to get shit done. You may have heard the name. He’s the 64-year-old business whiz and creative force behind Cape May Resorts, known most prominently for its restoration of the breathtaking Congress Hall in Cape May.

Nearly two decades ago, that’s where I became aware of him, when, with his mantra of customer service principles, he was turning Cape May into a stylish East Coast destination resort town. I remember we had lunch a couple of times, and I walked away impressed by the vision, passion and gentleness of this change agent who had been appointed executive director of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority by then-Governor Jim McGreevey, a Democrat.

Well, fast forward to 2024, and here he is, a pro-choice Republican, a student of the Constitution, an evangelist for bipartisanship and Enlightenment values, having defeated a Trump-endorsed candidate in the Republican primary and now giving the favored Democratic candidate all he can handle — all while striking a civil tone.

I caught up with Bashaw two days after his debate. (The rematch takes place next Tuesday.) What follows is an edited, condensed version of our conversation.

Larry Platt: Curtis Bashaw, how you doing?

Curtis Bashaw: I’m doing well. It’s nice to hear your voice. It’s been a long time.

Let’s begin with why you’re even doing this, dude. I mean, I remember a little bit about your life. You didn’t need to be putting 75,000 miles on the car. Was there a moment where you said, I’ve got to get off the sidelines?

I think the Covid lockdowns really showed me that we could lose our freedoms in an instant, and that you have to be your own protagonist. I jumped in and formed a task force for our county instantly. We brought together the 16 mayors, the five commissioners, business leaders, stakeholders, formed subcommittees, and wrote a reopening plan within three weeks for our county and submitted it to the state. And they ignored us. And then the unrest happened and our governor started marching in the protests while our main streets were ready to explode. We kind of drafted for our county a little declaration of independence, and used that as a tool to make sure that we got our hotels, our shops and our swimming pools open. We really had to fight for our freedom.

The other thing that’s been on my mind for the last several years has just been, besides the incivility, the factionalizing of our country in part because of the illiberality creeping into our schools and a sort of winner take all mentality on the extremes. You know, freedom is actually messy. I have free speech, assembly, worship, enterprise, conscience. Well, guess what? I have to share those liberties equally with my neighbor with whom I might not agree. That’s messy, but that’s freedom, and the blessings to me of that outweigh the price. We have to give each other space to have different points of view. That’s a pluralistic society. It’s a liberal Western democracy in the true sense of the word, classically. So I just felt at that stage of my life, and when Sen. Menendez [was convicted of] corruption, I was like, You know what? I’m just gonna look at this.

And, like any good CEO, you sought out experts in putting together an impressive team — notably communications director Jeanette Hoffman and strategist …

… My old friend Mike Duhaime, who had run Chris Christie’s successful Republican statewide campaigns. And I immersed myself in the famous New Jersey primary process, sweeping through 19 county conventions, winning against an opponent to the right of me who was trying to castigate me for having given [donations] to a few Democrats over the years. And we ended up prevailing, even over Trump’s endorsement of my opponent. You just feel the independence of New Jersey in that moment. My thesis has always been that if ever there’s an opportunity to kind of pull back to the middle and give an opportunity for common sense to prevail, it could be in a state like New Jersey.

And the contrast with Andy Kim, a progressive caucus member, was also kind of clear. We’ve been in a Democratic monopoly for a long time in this state. New Jersey is 49th in what [funding] it gets back from the federal government out of 50 states. Why are we happy being a donor state?

I was struck in the debate by your pro-growth economic argument — essentially positing that we can’t have jobs without employers.

You know, I’m a job creator. When I listen to the economic plan of Democrats, it’s a race to the bottom. For me, as a business guy who signs the front side of a paycheck 26 times a year for 35 years for thousands of employees, I don’t think we can regulate our way to innovation. I don’t think we can tax our way to fairness, and I don’t think that we can spend our way to prosperity. The best expression of American democracy has been in the free marketplace and we need to unshackle our small businesses.

I haven’t heard many Democrats or Republicans make the case for the free market as social good. You’re not talking about hoarding money for the one percent. You’re talking about expanding the tax base so everyone benefits, correct?

Yes. I’m not some extreme libertarian that believes there’s no role for government. I think we do need to care for the least among us, and we need to do that in our communities. People want to feel welcome and secure in their communities. But I just think business gets demonized. The small business people I know are the backbones of their communities. I believe in growth. I work for the 1,000 people who work for me, so they can afford car payments, mortgages, and rent.

Of course, the albatross you’ve had to deal with is the top of your ticket, Donald Trump, who you said you’d vote for in the general election.

I’m getting asked all the time, you know, what about your top of the ticket? Like, okay, he won the primary in New Jersey the same day I did, right? What am I supposed to do about that? Not run now? Like, wait? I’ve been a Republican my whole life. I voted for Ronald Reagan. I’m a critical thinker. When my party’s right, I’m going to support it, but when my party’s not right, I’m not going to be afraid to stand up to it.

Estimates are that Jewish voters make up some 10 percent of the New Jersey electorate, and you’ve drawn a distinction between yourself and Congressman Kim on the issue of the war in Gaza.

Many Jewish voters vote Democrat, maybe 60-40. But Andy just goes into these long answers about laws and the ins and outs of diplomacy, and I just think, hey, you know, the U.S. doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. Why are we asking Israel to? Why doesn’t the whole world just say right now, release the freakin’ hostages? Andy called for a ceasefire just months after Israel started defending itself. We’ve got to get back to moral clarity, which is why I’m excited about the second debate next week, where we’ll get into these issues.

I haven’t heard you talk about how your background in providing customer service can be applied in the public sector. We do a series in which we mystery shop City Hall, and it’s pretty clear that government seldom puts the customer first. Have you thought about how your career experience plays into the job you’re now seeking?

That’s a great question. I’ve been in hospitality my whole life. Our core values as a company start with the battle cry my mom used to do when people came to visit our house. She would scream, a half hour before arrival, “Company’s coming!” And I knew that battle cry, man. I needed to get my bed made. We wanted to put our best foot forward and, fundamentally, I needed to remember that I was a host. We were going to welcome people and make them feel at home.

I built a company around that philosophy. Our value of gracious hospitality? Grace is, you know, more of a religious word, but it means unmerited favor. So the customer is always right. We are going to give the benefit of the doubt to our guests. We would rather get ripped off by a few guests because we’re too nice than ever risk offending a guest who has a legitimate complaint.

“if ever there’s an opportunity to kind of pull back to the middle and give an opportunity for common sense to prevail, it could be in a state like New Jersey.” — Curtis Bashaw

Well, we as Americans want to give the benefit of the doubt to our fellow citizens. You want to trust our citizens. We’ve invited them to a place of refuge. Hospice is the root word in hospitality. So this whole philosophy does translate into our government. I just feel like people want to feel at home in their communities. They want to feel welcome. So yeah, there’s definitely a confluence that influences me, transitioning into this campaign and running this race. I annoy some of my strategists, because, you know, my instinct is to be gracious and kind. I think Andy Kim is a nice guy. I’m going to make sure everybody knows that we’re both nice guys, but policy still matters. So let’s move past our niceness because we are nice.

I guess my final question is, how are you liking this?

I have found it to be the most invigorating thing I’ve ever done. It is hard work, but it is amazing. I’m very glad I did it. I knew there were a lot of sacrifices that you make, but I said I would rather regret doing something than not doing something. And so we jumped in and talking to the people all across our state, it’s so stimulating to just learn about the geography and the diversity, but then you get into people sharing their hopes and dreams and their fears, and you feel, you know, this pulsating democracy, and you realize that we have to be on the front lines of that now, the way I was on the front lines of business, building my company. It’s just such an honor. It’s not for everybody. It’s grueling to be sure. But we’re going to work very hard for the next 25 days to try to bring this race home and have an upset here in the state.

Do you think we’ll ever get back to where we’re arguing over tax rates rather than calling each other names?

I hope to be part of that solution, honestly.

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