1990 Wharton MBA graduate Curtis Bashaw is running to be New Jersey’s next senator.
Bashaw, a Republican, is vying for the seat previously held by former Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who resigned from the Senate in August after being convicted of several criminal counts of bribery in July. The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with Bashaw to discuss his connection to the University and his race for the United States Senate seat against Democratic nominee Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.).
Bashaw told the DP that he has “always loved” the Wharton School, as his father attended Wharton for his undergraduate degree. He decided to apply to Wharton after having trouble securing a bank loan for the hotel business he had been working to start at the time. The day he found out about his Wharton acceptance, he simultaneously received a loan to begin his business.
“I decided that was a sign to do both,” Bashaw said.
Bashaw said that he “had a lot of fun" while at Wharton, citing the “work hard, play hard environment” that Wharton fostered.
Bashaw said he also developed several skills at Wharton that he feels would be useful should he serve as a U.S. senator, such as “rigorous analysis” and “management skills.”
“I think that’s a really important skill in our Congress today — to have people that do research and don’t just grandstand, and that are willing to be persuaded by analysis and rigor of due diligence, and then to be able to navigate people and negotiations so that we can solve problems,” Bashaw said.
Although New Jersey has not elected a Republican senator since 1972, Bashaw does not believe this will inhibit his ability to win the election.
“Business is proof that things that have never happened, it doesn't mean that they can’t happen — whether it's innovation, new products, [or] transformative technology," Bashaw said. "Just because we haven’t won a Senate seat doesn't mean we can’t.”
Bashaw said that there has been a “monopoly” on the seat for 52 years and that voters may be looking for a change.
“We’ve had a lot of corruption in our state, and career politicians sometimes start to think more about themselves than their constituents," Bashaw said. "I think voters want practical, common sense solutions. They don’t want more partisan politics, checklists, litmus tests. They want people that can solve things in a novel way so that we are better off.”
According to Bashaw, this “reasoning and common sense” philosophy can be applied to policy issues such as immigration and the border — he believes in strong border security while also being “pro-immigration.”
“Even immigration and border things have become sort of blended into one partisan issue, when actually, I think again, going back to that reasoning and common sense, we should decouple border security from immigration policy,” he said.
A self-described "social moderate," Bashaw explained how his viewpoint of freedom shapes his opinions on social issues. As a gay man who has “been with [his] husband for 22 years," Bashaw said he “[didn't] want the government telling me, as an adult, who I can spend my life with.”
“America’s freedoms are world-renowned: free speech, free assembly, free worship, free enterprise, freedom of conscience. All these freedoms that we enjoy come with a price, and the price is that we have to share them equally with our neighbors with whom we might not agree. So, I come to these social issues from that rubric,” Bashaw said.
In regards to reproductive freedom, Bashaw said that he believed the Supreme Court made its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 on “constitutional grounds,” in adherence to the separation of powers doctrine.
However, he also stated his support of abortion rights, and would work on “bipartisan legislation” to “protect a woman’s right to choose in all 50 states.”
Currently, New Jersey does not limit the right to an abortion.
“I believe that we should finish the job here and make a federal rule that protects that right [to abortion] for all women in all states, and do that in a bipartisan way, so we move past the animosity on this issue," Bashaw said. "People always have the option with our free speech to persuade people to your point of view. That’s OK. Healthy discourse is fine, but I just don't think that we should be telling people what to do, legally, in a way that infringes on those rights within the home. To me, that’s our domestic tranquility.”
Bashaw stressed the importance of using “bipartisan, bicameral solutions” to address “fundamental fiscal issues.”
“I just don’t think we can spend our way to prosperity, or regulate our way to innovation and growth," Bashaw said. "I think that we need to trust our citizens, leverage the free enterprise system that we have that has made America the land of opportunity.”
With Election Day coming up on Nov. 5, Bashaw emphasized the importance of young voters' involvement in the electoral process.
“We’re all citizens of the same country. If young people aren’t involved and we’re mortgaging your future, shame on you. You should be involved, absolutely involved," Bashaw said. "Engagement matters, and to go into the engagement with a level head, with empathy, with understanding that people have different points of view … We can hear them out.”
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