Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. (D-NJ) seems to be emphasizing his first name more than his family name in campaign banners these days.
It could just be a coincidence. Or it could be that he’s in a primary dogfight against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla while his dad fights to stay out of prison.
Two years ago, Sen. Bob Menendez was an essential political boost for Rob Menendez, paving the way for junior to nab the senator’s old congressional seat with a whopping 83.6% of the primary vote in his campaign for major political office.
A Menendez dynasty in New Jersey seemed inevitable.
But the corruption case against Sen. Menendez has changed all that.
To make matters worse for the freshman congressman, Garden State Democrats appear to be broadly revolting against the party’s old guard.
Local bosses also just lost the “County Line” — a huge advantage that let them put their finger on the scale by grouping their preferred candidates together on the ballot.
“Ordinarily [this] would have been kind of a stroll in the park for Rob Menendez. But this is serious competition,” Ross Baker, professor of American politics at Rutgers University, mused to The Post.
Bhalla and Menendez Jr. will square off for the Democratic nod in New Jersey’s Eighth Congressional District on Tuesday. Democrats are widely expected to hold onto the deep-blue seat regardless of who wins the primary.
Sparse polling has given limited insight into who is actually leading, but by all indications, the election is tight.
Menendez Jr. is in no way implicated in his father’s bribery case. Sen. Menendez is facing 18 federal counts alleging that he and his second wife accepted cash, gold bars, and other lavish items in exchange for favors given to businessmen and foreign governments. He has pleaded not guilty.
Yet, in the realm of politics, the stench of his father could prove insurmountable.
“It’s a huge drag,” nonpartisan Cook Political Report analyst Erin Covey said of Sen. Menendez’s shadow on the race. “The timing of a trial obviously doesn’t help.”
Yet, in the realm of politics, the stench of his father could prove insurmountable.
Bhalla has hammered the young scion, by underscoring his ties to the embattled senator and knocking him for not denouncing his father’s alleged corruption.
Rob Jr.’s campaign:Funded via $20k from his father he refuses to give back.Utilizes 25% of his father’s major donor💰.Run by his father’s same campaign team.Powered by the same Hudson County machine that backed his father.Fueled by the same corporate PAC💰as his father. pic.twitter.com/z4eLQPXxvv
“A lot of it has to do with how he got the seat,” Hoboken Councilman Phil Cohen, who has endorsed Bhalla, explained to The Post.
“He was elected as a freshman Congressman largely because of the influence of his father, rather than service in public office and coming up through the ranks.”
“I think part of the enthusiasm for Mayor Bhalla’s campaign is the fact that the Menendez brand is certainly not what it once was in our district.”
To counter the bad press, Menendez Jr. has focused on ethics issues, sought to minimize any connection to his more famous father, bragged about his mother (his parents split in 2005), and focused on his own record.
My mother, Jane, a retired Union City public educator, instilled in me many of my core values and influenced me to enter public service. She’s an incredible mom and super grandmother who – along with my grandmothers – I strive to make proud every single day.Ravi Bhalla and his… pic.twitter.com/rO8Z2t735U