Will the son be forced to pay for the sins of his father?
Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. (D-N.J.) has recently appeared to emphasize his first name over his last name in campaign banners.
That could just be a coincidence, or maybe he’s in a tough primary battle with Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla while his father is fighting to stay out of prison.
Two years ago, Sen. Bob Menendez was a key political boost for Rob Menendez, paving the way for the junior to win the senator’s old seat by a landslide. 83.6% of the primary votes In campaigns for major political offices.
The arrival of the Menendez dynasty in New Jersey seemed inevitable.
But the corruption case against Senator Menendez changed everything.
Making matters worse for the freshman congressman, Garden State Democrats appear to be in a widespread rebellion against the party’s veterans.
Local bosses also lost their “County Line” This is a major advantage that allows them to influence the outcome of an election by putting their preferred candidates on the ballot.
“usually [this] “For Rob Menendez, it would have been a walk in the park, but this is a serious competition,” Ross Baker, a professor of American politics at Rutgers University, told The Washington Post.
Barra and Menendez Jr. face off on Tuesday for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District, a seat that is widely expected to remain Democratic no matter who wins the primary.
The sparse vote Limited insight is given It’s unclear who is actually in the lead, but all indications are that the election is close.
Sen. Menendez Jr. has not been implicated in his father’s bribery case. Sen. Menendez faces 18 federal counts that allege he and his second wife accepted cash, gold bars and other lavish items in exchange for providing favors to businessmen and foreign governments. He has pleaded not guilty.
But in the world of politics, the fatherly stench may prove insurmountable.
“This is a big drag,” Erin Covey, a nonpartisan analyst at the Cook Political Report, said of the shadow Sen. Menendez is casting on the race. “The timing of the trial obviously doesn’t help.”
Bhalla highlighted his connection to the senator in question, saying he Condemning his father’s corruption allegations.
“It has a lot to do with how he got his seat,” Hoboken City Councilman Phil Cohen, who is backing Barra, explained to The Washington Post.
“His election as a freshman congressman was largely due to his father’s influence rather than any success in public office.”
“I think part of the reason there’s so much enthusiasm for Mayor Bala’s campaign is the fact that the Menendez brand in our district is completely different than it once was.”
To combat the bad press, Menendez Jr. Focus on ethical issueshas tried to minimize his ties to his more famous father, brag about his mother (his parents divorced in 2005), and focus on his own record.
“My opponents want to fight my father because they’re scared to fight me, and that’s on him. I’m focused on fighting for you,” Menendez Jr. said. I was reprimanded at a recent spot..
Some believe the strategy could work, and that voters may feel that attacks that lump Trump in with his father are unfair.
“They’re both different people. Sen. Menendez is his own person,” Laura Matos, a New Jersey Democratic strategist, told The Post. “He’s not being held accountable for his situation, so I think it’s a little bit cheap to focus solely on that.”
Still, politics is hard.
“He’s clearly not going to disown his father,” Baker stressed.
Menendez Jr. isn’t the only one feeling the effects of his father’s scandal: His sister, Alicia Menendez, an MSNBC host, has also been forced to avoid commenting on the matter due to her role.
But beyond the paternity scandal, another trend is emerging in New Jersey politics right now: The Democratic Party establishment seems to be fraying a bit.
A “political revolution” unfolds in New Jersey
It is fair to say that most of the party’s leading figures support Menendez Jr. and do not want him to be held accountable for his father’s illegal actions.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) rallied for him on Sunday, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other leading Democrats are also fundraising for him. According to AxiosParty leaders tend to support incumbents.
But it’s unclear whether that will be enough. The political landscape in the Garden State is changing quickly, as the fierce battle for his father’s seat shows. Murphy supported his own wife in that race, but she lost in a landslide to Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.).
Political parties, especially Democrats, once wielded considerable influence over local elections through a quirky feature of New Jersey elections: an defunct voting system known as “county line.”
Local political parties nominate candidates, and then the candidates supported by each party are lined up vertically on the ballot paper.
One analysis Results from several elections held in 2020 showed that candidates competing in the “runoff” had an average approval rating of 35% among county executives.
But now, the Garden State’s Democratic primary “lines” have disappeared. Kim’s lawsuit.
(Republicans are still allowed to use it.)
“There’s actually a kind of political revolution happening in New Jersey,” Baker said, “which makes Rob Menendez more likely to win.”
“It’s not impossible to recover, [the Democrat machine] It’s clearly at stake now.”
The 8th District election will be a test of this new political dynamic for New Jersey Democrats.
“There’s really no way to predict it in advance,” Covey said.
Will Latinos bail out Menendez?
Technically, the district that Menendez Jr. is fighting so hard to keep has been represented by a Latino for more than 30 years.
District 8 Estimated 52.5% Hispanic It encompasses parts of Essex, Union and Hudson counties. Fastest Growing Counties In the New York metropolitan area, according to the latest census.
While Hudson County’s Latino population growth has slowed compared to other counties in New Jersey, its Asian population grew 57% between 2010 and 2015. According to the latest census.
After the indictment was dropped, Menendez Jr.’s father emphasized his son’s Cuban roots and complained that the federal prosecutors who prosecuted him “just couldn’t accept that a first-generation Latino from a poor family could rise to become a U.S. senator.”
Menendez Jr. has been trying to win over Latino support. Sell yourself As “New Jersey’s only Hispanic member of Congress,” he is supported by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ super PAC BOLD. broadcast airwaves in support of him.
“A lot of the voters in the 8th District are Latino, and a very large percentage of Latinos are Cuban-American, so to them, this president is basically their tribe,” Baker said.
Mayor of Hoboken
When Menendez Jr. ran for his seat again in 2022, he received the endorsement of Mayor Bala, a move the mayor now claims he regrets.
“The Menendez campaign threatened us that if we didn’t support him, Hoboken would suffer,” Barra alleged during the debate.
Barra was first elected mayor in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021. Baker and others have described Barra as a “rising star in New Jersey politics” who has addressed flooding and traffic problems in the city of about 57,700 people.
“Hoboken now ranks among the best in the nation for flood resilience and pedestrian safety. The city is unusual in that it has not had a single pedestrian fatality in seven years,” Cohen said.
“Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has cited it as a national model.”
If he wins, Bhalla would become the first turbaned Sikh American to serve in both houses of Congress.
Meanwhile, Senator Menendez’s option remains open, as he has reportedly gathered enough signatures to run for his former Senate seat as an independent, despite polls showing him to be significantly less popular.
