Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) is hoping to hold on to his House seat in November but is facing potential liabilities from his father’s corruption trial as he seeks reelection for a second term.
Menendez’s primary was thought to be a guaranteed win eight months ago, but then the Justice Department indicted his father, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), on charges of bribery and acting as a foreign agent. The indictment dashed cold water on the younger Menendez’s hopes for a smooth primary, allowing other Democratic candidates to pour into the race.
On June 4, Rob Menendez will face Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, the congressman’s toughest competitor who has wasted no time trying to tie him to his father’s alleged crimes. Businessman Kyle Jasey is also in the Democratic primary race.
The 8th Congressional District — which leans heavily Democratic and includes Hoboken, some areas of Jersey City, and mostly Hudson County towns — is shaping up to be the state’s ugliest contest on the 2024 ballot. According to the New Jersey Monitor, Rob Menendez has blasted Bhalla as unethical, while Bhalla has called the congressman the “entitled son of corrupt Bob ‘Gold Bars’ Menendez,” referring to the gold bars that the senator allegedly received as bribes from a felon in a trade for help.
Bhalla has called Rob Menendez a “replication of the same apparatus,” referring to the congressman sharing the same major donors and overlapping advisers with his father.
“We need to change, to get to a place with people who are not anointed by way of their connections with powerful people, but are elected with the qualifications,” Bhalla told the New Jersey Monitor.
Menendez has pointed out that Bhalla endorsed him for Congress in 2022, telling Insider NJ that the Hoboken mayor also campaigned for him during that time.
“Ravi used to text me and thank me for what we were doing and what good advocates we were for Hoboken. So clearly, only one thing has changed, and that’s the one thing Ravi wants to talk about,” Menendez said to the New Jersey Monitor.
Democrats are looking to keep the younger Menendez in the House, as the party hopes to regain their majority this November. With Republicans holding a one-seat majority as of now, and many vulnerable GOP members facing competitive general elections, Democrats are inching closer to recapturing the majority that they lost in 2022.
Earlier this month, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), joined by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA), and other Democratic leaders, hosted a fundraiser for Rob Menendez near Capitol Hill. Jeffries endorsed the younger Menendez in his reelection campaign.
Unlike his first primary run in 2022, Rob Menendez is facing a challenger who is raking in the same number of donations. As of May 16, Rob Menendez has raised nearly $1.4 million as of the end of March compared to Bhalla’s $1.6 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The congressman also faces a roadblock after a New Jersey judge barred the use of county-line ballots in a March ruling. On the new 2024 ballots, voters will see the candidates grouped together based on the office they are seeking, rather than if they received backing from county party officials. The latter historically benefited establishment politicians, and in the 8th District race, Rob Menendez is endorsed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
A Global Strategy Group poll conducted in April found that Bhalla held a five-point lead over the incumbent congressman, 33% to 28%. The poll also found that Bhalla has a net favorability of 30%, while Menendez’s is at 4%.
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This comes after Rob Menendez’s team released poll results in February arguing that the congressman was well ahead of Bhalla, 46% to the mayor’s 24%. Bhalla’s team disagreed, arguing their polls showed Bhalla with 41% and Rob Menendez with 44%.
Whether or not Rob Menendez’s chances of reelection are ruined by his father’s placement on the 2024 ballot remains to be seen. The senator declined to run for reelection as a Democrat in March. As of Tuesday, he has one week to gather enough signatures to run for reelection to the Senate as an independent. Bob Menendez has floated the idea that he could seek reelection as an independent, but he must gather and file 800 signatures by June 4.