Rep. Rob Menendez, D-N.J., is looking to fend off a primary challenger on Tuesday in a race that has been overshadowed his father’s ongoing corruption trial.
Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla has sought to tie the congressman to Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who is facing federal bribery charges. The elder Menendez has pleaded not guilty and Rob Menendez has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Still, America’s Promise PAC, an outside group supporting Bhalla, launched a TV ad with a narrator saying: “They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. So it’s no wonder that Rob Menendez is defending his father’s corruption,” later adding that the congressman is “rotten to the core.”
Representing the majority-Hispanic 8th District in northern New Jersey, Rob Menendez is the state’s only Hispanic member of the House. He’s had support from BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Protect Progress, a group tied to the cryptocurrency industry.
Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Kim won the New Jersey Democratic Senate primary, NBC News projects, potentially setting up a clash with Sen. Menendez, who has filed to run as an independent.
Kim has warned that Menendez’s independent bid could put seat in deep blue New Jersey in jeopardy for the Democrats. Kim initially sought to challenge Menendez in the Democratic primary, launching his run in September after Menendez was indicted.
“Our work is just beginning,” Kim said in a statement Tuesday night. “New Jersey has a choice: the chaos and corruption of Bob Menendez and Donald Trump, or a politics that works for families struggling to get by. New Jersey deserves better, and I’m ready to take our movement for change to the U.S. Senate.”
His victory on Tuesday is an anticlimactic end to a primary that was initially shaping up to be bitter and expensive after first lady Tammy Murphy jumped into the race. But Murphy ended her campaign as Kim tapped into grassroots anger aimed at the party machine, which often involves party leaders hand picking their preferred candidates.
Kim had said he faced pressure to drop out of the race after Murphy entered.
“I don’t think I can look my two kids in the eye if I drop out of this race simply because someone who’s more connected than me is jumping in, but somebody I think that I have more experience than,” Kim told NBC News back in March.
Kim has proven to be a strong fundraiser, and grabbed national attention for helping to clean the Capitol Rotunda after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
Filing to run for re-election will also allow Menendez to continue to raise and spend campaign funds on legal fees.
Other Senate matchups will also be set in Tuesday’s primaries, including in Montana, where Republicans are expected to pick businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in one of the most hotly contested races of this election cycle.
In New Mexico, Republicans are also expected to nominate Nella Domenici, whose late father Pete Domenici served as the state’s senator for more than three decades. If she wins on Tuesday, she’ll face Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich in November.
Matchups will also be decided in a slew of House races in New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and Iowa. South Dakota is also holding its primaries on Tuesday, but most of the action is at the state legislative level.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have been their party’s presumptive nominees for several months now. But New Jersey could see some protest votes against Biden related to the Israel-Hamas war as the slogan “Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now” will appear on the ballot underneath the choice of “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary.
Polls close in New Jersey at 8 p.m. ET, Iowa, New Mexico and South Dakota at 9 p.m. ET and Montana at 10 p.m. ET.
