ABC News has learned that New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez plans to file a petition by the end of Monday to enter the U.S. Senate runoff in the Garden State as an independent candidate.
The deadline to submit signatures is Tuesday at 4 p.m., which also happens to be the date of New Jersey’s partisan primaries. Independent candidates need 800 signatures to enter the U.S. Senate general election in New Jersey.
Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, leaves Manhattan Federal Court in New York on May 14, 2024.
Alex Kent/AFP via Getty Images
Menendez decided not to run in New Jersey’s Democratic Senate primary while under indictment. He said in March that he would not seek another term as a Democrat, but left open the possibility of running in November as an independent.
“I will not be running in the Democratic primary in June,” he said in a video statement at the time. “I hope my exoneration will occur this summer and allow me to continue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
ABC News has reached out to the campaign and Menendez’s office for comment.
In a statement to ABC News, Rep. Andy Kim, who is running in the Democratic Senate primary and entered the race last fall in response to Menendez’s indictment, wrote: “Americans are fed up with politicians who put personal interests ahead of what is right. for the country. Everyone knows that Bob Menendez isn’t running for the people of New Jersey, he’s running for himself. It is past time for change, and I am taking action to restore the integrity of the United States Senate.
The New Jersey Globe was first to report on Menendez’s plans.
Menendez’s corruption trial is currently underway. New Jersey politician accused of accepting cash, gold bars, luxury wristwatches and other perks from New Jersey businessmen in exchange of official favors for the benefit of businessmen and the Egyptian and Qatari governments.
Menendez, 70, has denied any wrongdoing and called the accusation “overzealous.”
ABC News
