Did he finally see the writing on the Wall? It’s hard to tell. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat senator, has remained defiant throughout the latest chapter of his criminal entanglements. He’s maintained his innocence and refused to resign his Senate seat he held since 2006. He continued to run for reelection. Now, it appears that the 70-year-old has decided to give up.
Menendez ran as an independent candidate in June, while his trial was still underway. He wanted to keep all his options open until the end of his case. Six weeks later, he was found guilty and announced his resignation effective Tuesday.
His continued candidacy in the independent race raised the possibility of him complicating the race between Rep. Andy Kim, (D-N.J.), and Republican Curtis Bashaw, the Republican businessman. Menendez had until Friday to withdraw from the race as an independent candidate.
Menendez sent an email to the New Jersey Division of Elections on Friday afternoon asking that he be removed from the ballot.
Menendez wrote the acting director of the division, “Please be informed that as an Independent Candidate for the U.S. Senate election in November I am advising that I would like to have my name removed from the ballot.”
Menendez’s federal trial in the Southern District in New York, which lasted for months, on corruption charges, should have been a sensation in itself — a sitting U.S. Senator, with a powerful committee position, facing trial for corruption and extortion as well as acting as a “foreign agent” and obstruction of justice. The Menendez trial that began in May and ended mid-July, with a guilty verdict for all 16 counts was overshadowed largely by the Manhattan trial against former President Donald Trump, who falsified his business records, and the Delaware trial against First Son Hunter Biden, on federal weapons charges.
Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced on October 29. He will officially resign on Tuesday. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is expected to nominate George Helmy, formerly his chief of staff to fill this seat.
