'Important for me to just do something': NJ congressman helps clean up Capitol after riots

WASHINGTON — After going into lockdown for several hours, virtually swearing in a county commissioner and voting to certify the results of the presidential election in the early morning hours Thursday, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim's day still wasn't over.

The 3rd District congressman was photographed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda helping workers clean up the mess left behind by the pro-Donald Trump mob that breached the U.S. Capitol hours earlier. 

Kim was walking around the Capitol surveying the damage for himself in between votes, he said, when he was overcome with emotion.

"I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and when I got to the rotunda and I felt compelled to do something," the congressman said Thursday.

He went up to some police officers who were throwing away a pizza box and asked for a trash bag, and they obliged.

"I just started cleaning up the Rotunda and started cleaning up some of the other areas in the Capitol as well. I just did that for a little while," Kim said. "It was important for me to just do something. I was obviously voting and doing my constitutional duties, but what we experienced today, no law can erase."

Kim was on his way to the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon when he was alerted that the mob had made it inside but was able to make his way to a safe location. 

While on lockdown prior to the House reconvening, Kim virtually attended the Burlington County Board of Commissioners reorganization meeting to swear in reelected commissioner Balvir Singh.

In his remarks, Kim urged the county board of commissioners what it can accomplish to better serve the county residents, and how it will go about working toward those accomplishments.

"I hope that we can really commit ourselves in this year to really just try to show the American people that we can get to the work to be able to serve them, that we can do this with honor, and that we can treat each other with respect, and be able to inject some civility back into our politics in a way that can make them proud," Kim said.

The congressman picked up trash for around an hour and a half, everything from a deck of playing cards to body armor to cigarette butts.

The photos of him, taken by Associated Press Photographer Andrew Harnik, went viral on social media.

As of Thursday, a photo of the congressman on his knees cleaning up trash in the Rotunda received nearly 80,000 upvotes on Reddit.

"If it's resonating with folks, hopefully they see that a lot actions and gestures are not about legislation, it's just about treating government and Democracy with the respect that it deserves," Kim said.

"I was cleaning up the Capitol because it was the right thing to do. That building deserves to be treated with respect, and yesterday it was desecrated," he continued.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy gave Kim a shoutout.

"(Andy Kim) represents the very best of New Jersey and our nation. A true public servant who makes us proud every single day," Murphy said on Twitter.

George Woolston is a South Jersey native who covers several topics for the Burlington County Times. He joined the staff in 2019. Contact him at gwoolston@thebct.com and follow on Twitter @gcwoolston.