and in the wake of that other indictment we've been covering the race for the US senate seat currently held by Senator Bob Menendez is now between Democratic primary winner Andy Kim a congressman from the Third District and Republican primary winner Curtis Bashaw who's a hotelier and is gay there could be a third candidate in the race Menendez could run as an independent that'll all depend on the results of his trial which was placed on hold last week when codefendant Fred Davies tested positive for Co it's expected to resume tomorrow unless others test positive before then but while the trial plays out senior political correspondent David Cruz takes a look at where the two primary candidates stand on the key issues driving this election after what ended up being a pretty easy primary for the major party US Senate candidates the stage is set for what promises to be a tumultuous fall campaign between Democrat Andy Kim the layer of the party line and hotelier developer Curtis Bashaw not your standard Jersey Republican I'm proud during this month of Pride to be the first openly gay uh person running for the Republican uh seat in the Senate and we're gonna take our campaign and our message as a political Outsider to all voters of New Jersey and we're in this to win it for them Bashaw a former Trump denier is now he says Allin for the former president whose vulgarities have targeted among others women minorities and the disabled and have made supporting him what many assume is a non-starter for any candidate in the blue state of Jersey it actually just kind of boggles my mind sometimes I'm just like you know why why does why does he actually want to run for the senate seat if you know he's trying to twist himself in knots in so many different ways um I mean look uh Curtis Basha voted for Trump on June 4th uh for the Republican primary he's going to vote for him again in November the man is vulgar um he he is uh sexist he's homophobic he mocks people with disabilities you can't really support that can you as I said elections are binary choices I know I can't support Joe Biden Kim also called into question Basha's pro-choice stance the Republican insists he pro-choice despite supporting the Supreme Court's recent dos decision which handed the issue back to the States you cannot say that you're pro-choice if you support the dobs decision because this is about just fundamental freedoms you either support people's freedoms you support the freedom of women to make decisions about their own body or you don't I am a freedom guy I believe that government shouldn't be coming into our homes and telling us what to do which is why I don't think think it's inconsistent to be pro-choice and also to believe that if there are going to be regulations about something that personal as abortion that they should be best done at lower levels of government closer to the communities they're seeking to regulate Bas says Biden has been a failure and that today's New Jersey might not be as inhospitable to the idea of trump but analyst Micah Ras says Bashaw will have to walk a fine line as far as Trump is concerned Republicans going to train candidates okay well don't make yourself don't distinguish yourself too much from from Donald Trump because he's the standard Bearer he's the guy who's running out in front and you don't want to you know make it hard for yourself to get back to him you don't want to incur his wrath that may work in other places but that's not going to work in New Jersey and hovering over all of it like a dark cloud in the distance is the possibility that the incumbent May yet enter the race as an independent in the fall both camps dismissed the Menendez C Cy right now but an acquit as unlikely as that may be could change things significantly I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News