Candidates are eyeing a senate seat in New Jersey after the seat holder Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said he is “not going anywhere”.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said Menendez, 69, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using his power and influence as New Jersey’s senior senator to benefit the government of Egypt and interfere with law enforcement probes, according to reporting from Reuters.
Investigators say they found $480,000 in cash and more than $100,000 worth of gold bars at Menendez’s home. A 39-page indictment says Menendez used his position to pressure prosecutors in New Jersey who were involved in the cases of his friends.
This is not the first time these accusations have come to light, Menendez has been accused of similar crimes back in 2006, and charges were dismissed during a 2015 indictment against him.
The New Jersey governor, several U.S. senators and several New Jersey representatives called for Menendez’s resignation during the last week of September.
“The allegations in the indictment against Senator Menendez and four other defendants are deeply disturbing… Under our legal system, Senator Menendez and the other defendants have not been found guilty and will have the ability to present evidence disputing these charges, and we must respect the process. However, the alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state. Therefore, I am calling for his immediate resignation,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy wrote in a statement Sept. 22.
However, Menendez said it’s going to take a lot more than accusations to make him resign.
“It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere,” he said in a statement Sept. 22.
Now, Democrats and Republicans are gathering candidates to go for the senate seat in an old fashioned election.
Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ, 3rd District) announced his candidacy Sept. 23, even though he’s in a relatively good position with his voters near the Trenton suburban area and cruised into re-election in 2022.
“After calls to resign, Senator Menendez said ‘I am not going anywhere.’ As a result, I feel compelled to run against him. Not something I expected to do, but NJ deserves better,” Kim wrote in a social media post Sept. 23. “We cannot jeopardize the Senate or compromise our integrity.”
The Republican Party has not won a senate seat in New Jersey since 1972 — but it seems they’ll be taking on the challenge come November 2024. Christine Serrano Glassner, a New Jersey mayor with political ties to former President Donald Trump, also announced her campaign Sept. 18.
In the meantime, Menendez has raised more than $7 million for the senate race, but his poll ratings are falling, and recently a fatal car crash involving his wife has come to light.
Investigators said the victim, Richard Kopp, 49, had jaywalked after drinking with friends on the night that Nadine Menendez hit him with her Mercedes. The state attorney general is now investigating whether police and Bergen county prosecutors handled the fatal crash scene appropriately, first reported by NBC News.