Bob Menendez flirting with reelection worries Democrats about future seat
Peter Cordi
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Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is weighing reelection, prompting the majority of Senate Democrats to call on him to resign.
While the indicted senator is being coy about his intentions, his Democratic colleagues believe that a reelection bid would hand a Senate seat to the Republican Party in a tight 2024 race.
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“There is something like a 0 percent chance he would be able to get the nomination,” an anonymous senator told Politico. “He’s a dead man walking, politically.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the second senator to call for Menendez to resign, said, “I hope he doesn’t run, but if he does run, it’s his choice. And I think he will lose.”
While more than half of Senate Democrats have called for the embattled senator from New Jersey to resign, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has been the only one to encourage candidates to challenge Menendez in the primary.
“If he would be foolish enough to run for reelection,” Fetterman said, “I will be actively assisting anyone that’s running against him in the primary.”
The Pennsylvania senator submitted a fundraising appeal for South Jersey’s Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), a current front-runner to challenge Menendez in the Democratic primary.
Asked about his timeline for a decision on the 2024 election, Menendez told Politico, “I don’t have to answer to you people … I will tell the people of New Jersey when I’m ready.”
If the indicted senator ignores warnings from his constituents in the Senate, he faces what National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines (R-MT) says “could become a competitive race.”
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) is one of the leading names in the New Jersey Republican Party who might challenge for the Garden State’s up-for-grabs Senate seat. Van Drew is a former Democrat who switched parties in 2019.
Menendez was indicted, alongside his wife Nadine Menendez, on allegations of accepting bribes and gifts from businessmen in exchange for aid to the Egyptian government. Investigators found approximately $500,000 in cash and $100,000 in gold bars stuffed in various places in their Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, estate.
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One of the gifts Menendez allegedly received included a brand-new $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible, given to the Menendez family just months after Nadine Menendez damaged her car in a fatal crash involving a pedestrian.
The couple and businessman pleaded not guilty to federal charges.