More than half of voters said in a recent poll they were not that familiar with either Republican Curtis Bashaw or Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, the two candidates running for the open U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey.

Curtish Bashaw, the Republican in the race to replace Bob Menendez, had to step away from the debate stage for 10 minutes.

It was the first debate between Democrat Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw in the race for convicted Robert Menendez's seat.

New Jersey Republican Curtis Bashaw blamed the incident on not eating prior to his debate with Democrat Andy Kim.

New Jersey Republican Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw took to social media to confirm that he froze during his recent debate with Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) because he “never stopped to get a bite to eat.” The two men were squaring off Sunday during a 90-minute debate when Bashaw began slurring his words and stopped speaking.

Curtis Bashaw, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, appeared to suffer a medical episode during a debate on Sunday.