Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., stands in an elevator after leaving his office in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28, 2023.
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Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said he plans to resign on Tuesday, just over a month after a federal grand jury find him guilty on charges including bribery and acting as a foreign agent.
The shocking corruption trial brought to an end the long and tumultuous career of Menendez, who started as mayor of Union Cityan enclave of Cuban immigrants in North Jersey, and rose to prominence as the first Latino to chair the influential United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He was also the first United States Senator to be convicted of bribery. for over 40 years.
Menendez, first elected to the Senate in 2006, is nearing the end of his third term and will be up for re-election in November.
Here’s how his conviction and resignation are changing New Jersey’s representation in Congress — and the race to replace him.
A longtime NJ political operative will temporarily replace Menendez.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will appoint Menendez’s replacement — and the Democratic governor has already announce your choice.
Murphy’s former longtime chief of staff, George Helmy, will fill Menendez’s seat. The governor said he expects to be sworn in on September 9 when the Senate reconvenes.
“George is the model of integrity we need to help restore public confidence in the state’s leadership,” Murphy said in a statement.
Helmy, 44, served as Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 to 2023, and before that he served as state director and chief of staff to Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. He is now executive vice president and chief policy and public affairs officer at RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey.
Murphy said Helmy will serve as senator until New Jersey certifies the results of the general election on November 27, at which point Helmy will step down and Murphy will appoint whoever wins the Senate race.
The November election will decide who will replace Menendez for a long term.
When the New Jersey primary was decided in June, the Democratic candidate for Senate was not Menendez.
Representative Andy Kim win nod for the Democratic nomination, after Menendez decided not to run for re-election as a Democrat amid public pressure over his corruption conviction. At the time, he said he would run again as an independent.
Kim will face Republican Curtis Bashaw, a hotelier, in the fall. New Jersey Democrats have a significant voter registration advantage over Republicans in statewide elections.
Tammy Murphy, the governor’s wife, challenged Kim for the Democratic nomination, but she facing accusations of nepotism and eventually dropped out, paving the way for Kim to win easily in June.
What was Menendez convicted of?
Federal prosecutor has been debated that Menendez, 70, used his political power to help New Jersey businessmen as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar. In return, the senator received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars establish at his home, the government said.
Menendez’s wife, Nadine, is accused of being the middleman in the case. Nadine Menendez is being treated for breast cancer and her trial has been ongoing. postponed indefinitely.
After a nine-week trial, a federal jury in Manhattan deliberated for less than two days before returning a verdict, finding Menendez guilty on all 16 counts against him.
He can face a lengthy prison sentence. On Tuesday, Menendez asked the trial judge to overturn his guilty verdict, but Politico reported that this legal claim is unlikely to succeed.
Menendez was tried on separate federal corruption charges in 2017, but the judge in that case declare a retrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
