WASHINGTON (CN) — New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez appears poised to mount an independent reelection campaign, bucking the Democratic caucus and potentially positioning himself as a spoiler candidate in the Garden State’s Senate race.
Menendez, who is currently facing corruption and bribery charges, has amassed the necessary signatures to petition the New Jersey board of elections for his third-party bid, the New Jersey Globe reported Monday morning. News of the senator’s potential run comes just a day before New Jersey’s primary election slated for Tuesday.
If his independent bid is approved, Menendez could face off in November against current New Jersey House Representative Andy Kim, the current Democratic frontrunner, and a Republican challenger.
At the moment, it’s unclear what effect, if any, a Menendez candidacy would have on the Garden State’s Senate election — but as the Democratic incumbent, the senator could siphon votes off Kim, giving the GOP a chance at flipping one of New Jersey’s traditionally blue Senate seats.
New Jersey’s senior senator announced in March that he would not run as a Democrat in his state’s primary, arguing at the time that the charges levied against him would overshadow policy debates with other candidates.
“Unfortunately, the present accusations I am facing … will not allow me to have that type of dialogue with political opponents,” Menendez said in a video message at the time, appearing to jab at Kim — who has put the corruption and bribery charges at the center of his decision to mount a primary challenge.
However, Menendez hinted back in March that an independent bid was brewing, adding that he was hopeful that he would be exonerated over the summer to pave way for his third-party run.
In an indictment unsealed last year, the Justice Department claimed that Menendez, along with his wife Nadine, accepted roughly $600,000 in bribes from people affiliated with the government of Egypt. A superseding indictment unsealed in January further accused the senator of accepting bribes on behalf of the Qatari royal family.
The department says in both indictments that Menendez — who until last year was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — wielded his political influence to close a major U.S. weapons sale to Egypt and aided a New Jersey real-estate developer with ties to the government of Qatar.
In return, the senator’s benefactors fed him bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, Formula One race tickets and a Mercedes-Benz luxury coupe, prosecutors say.
Menendez pleaded not guilty and has publicly maintained his innocence, urging voters to withhold their judgment until his trial runs its course.
Kim, meanwhile, appeared nonplussed by the news that New Jersey’s senior senator would hop into the race as an independent.
“Everyone knows Bob Menendez isn’t running for NJ families,” he said in a Monday afternoon post on X, formerly Twitter. “He’s running for himself. People are fed up with politicians putting their own personal benefit ahead of what’s right for the country.”
Menendez isn’t the only member of Congress facing charges related to foreign corruption. Texas Representative Henry Cuellar, also a Democrat, was indicted in May amid similar accusations that he accepted bribes on behalf of the Azerbaijani government and a Mexican bank.
Cuellar has similarly proclaimed his innocence, and has said that he will also seek reelection to represent the Lone Star State’s 28th Congressional District.
Democratic leadership, meanwhile, has largely deferred to the Justice Department on the matter, saying that both lawmakers should be entitled to the presumption of innocence while the investigations are ongoing.
Follow @BenjaminSWeiss
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