Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez will not run for reelection as a Democrat this year but is keeping the door open to an independent run, he said Thursday.
New Jersey’s senior senator, who is under indictment for a second time in a decade, said he is hopeful that “my exoneration will take place this summer,” allowing him to run in November’s general election.
“Unfortunately, the present accusations I am facing, of which I am innocent and will prove so, will not allow me to have that type of dialogue and debate with political opponents that have already made it the cornerstone of their campaign,” Menendez said in a video. “New Jerseyans deserve better than that.”
Menendez’s announcement comes days before New Jersey’s Democratic filing deadline on March 25. Had Menendez run for reelection as a Democrat, he would be jumping into an already contentious primary between Rep. Andy Kim and first lady Tammy Murphy — not to mention having single-digit support, according to public polls.
Menendez is scheduled to go on trial in early May. The independent filing deadline is June 4, and the senator is keeping that option on the table to see if his legal troubles clear up.
It’s happened before. Menendez faced corruption charges last time he was up for reelection, but a mistrial in 2017 allowed him to maintain support from the state’s party establishment in 2018.
This time he’s hoping to do the same in a tighter time frame and an environment in which virtually every statewide Democrat of influence has abandoned him.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez entered politics in 1974, getting elected to the school board in Union City, a small but dense and diverse city in the shadow of Manhattan. But he made his name testifying against his mentor, then-Union City Mayor and state Sen. William Musto, who was convicted of corruption and sentenced to prison. Menendez then became mayor of Union City in 1986, and the following year was soon elected to the state Legislature. He won a House seat in 1992, rising in the three decades since to become one of New Jersey’s most powerful and beloved elected officials.
His past year in Congress was defined by allegations of corruption and bribery, all of which he has repeatedly denied. The first news of the indictment broke in September, when court documents accused Menendez and his wife of accepting bribes in forms of cash, a car and gold bars to help aid the Egyptian government.
The allegations only got deeper as the session in Congress went on. He was accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Egypt in October. In January, legal documents alleged he spoke positively about Qatar in exchange for bribes. And just a few weeks ago, federal prosecutors indicted the embattled senator and his wife once more for allegedly lying about bribe money.
Throughout it all, Menendez has maintained his innocence. Despite calls from within his own party and state to resign, Menendez stayed in office, saying he was being falsely attacked as a Cuban American. And Menendez has reaffirmed that “of course” he could win reelection.
“I know many of you are hurt and disappointed in me with the accusations I am facing. Believe me I am disappointed at the false accusations as well,” Menendez said. “All I can ask of you is to withhold judgment until justice takes place.”
