Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) is set to win the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 8th congressional district, according to the Associated Press, staving off a fierce challenge by the mayor of Hoboken.
Menendez faces an uphill battle for his second congressional term given the legal trouble in which his father, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), is mired, having been indicted on federal bribery, corruption, and obstruction charges.
The younger Menendez has not been swept up in any of the allegations against his father and sought to keep voters’ attention on his own record. But that was no easy task with his primary challengers—Mayor Ravi Bhalla and businessman Kyle Jasey—taking every opportunity to link him to the infamous senator.
With more than three-quarters of votes counted on Tuesday night, Menendez had collected more than 50 percent of ballots. The AP reported that, at the time it declared him the winner, the incumbent candidate had already built up “a sizable districtwide lead over Bhalla.” Jasey trailed both of them.
After the call, a crowd gathered to hear Menendez speak in Jersey City erupted in cheers of “We won! We won!” according to the New Jersey Monitor.
“This election, there was an incredible amount of noise—things that people read in their mailbox, things they had to see on TV—but at the end of the day, they looked at our track record,” Menendez told his supporters.
The 38-year-old cruised to a considerably smoother victory in 2022, enjoying the support of institutional heavyweights. But although Bhalla managed to outraise Menendez, the latter collected a significant number of endorsements along the campaign trail, with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and other top Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, tipping their hats to him.
Menendez will face off against Republican Anthony Valdes in November’s general election.
Sen. Menendez, 70, filed to run for re-election as an independent on Monday, mounting a longshot bid to snatch his seat back in a race against Rep. Andy Kim, the victor in Tuesday’s Democratic Senate primary.
“As I have said before; I have committed no crime. I am more confident than ever that New Jerseyans and the rest of the American public will see me exonerated of what I am being accused of, and I will be re-elected to the Senate once again,” Menendez said in a statement on Monday.
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