“It just goes to show you the importance of Menendez’s corruption trial. “To the extent that this election has turned into a referendum on President Trump and in a state where Trump is not popular, you would think that an incumbent senator with a good legislative record would not have a problem getting elected,” said John Weingart, associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Hugin, a political neophyte and millionaire, is giving Menendez, a veteran politician first elected to public office as a 20-year-old in 1974, the run of his life. Other polls last week showed Menendez opening wider leads, from 6 to 11 points.īut no matter what poll you choose, the fact that the Democratic incumbent in solidly blue New Jersey - where a Republican has not been elected to the US Senate since 1972 - even faces a serious challenge is nothing short of a miracle. This past week, a poll conducted by Stockton University found Menendez had 45 percent of the vote, compared with Hugin, a former pharmaceutical executive, who had 43 percent. A recent poll showed Menendez was viewed unfavorably by more than half of New Jersey’s eligible voters, and he led by only 2 percentage points against Republican foe Bob Hugin, 64. 6 election, the long shadow of Menendez’s trial looms over the incumbent’s re-election campaign. It’s one of a handful of negative TV spots paid for by a super PAC whose Web site, Shamelessl圜, reminds voters that New Jersey’s embattled two-term senator faced a historic federal corruption trial in 2017, where he had been accused of accepting bribes from his friend Salomon Melgen in return for political favors for him and a bevy of beauties, with many of the details first revealed by The Post. The political commercial goes on to detail Menendez’s cozy relationship with a millionaire benefactor, flashing images of a private jet, clinking champagne glasses and sultry models - all scenes from a lavish, globe-trotting lifestyle a world away from the modest houses covered with aluminum siding and neat driveways of Menendez’s old neighborhood. “I never forgot my roots,” says Menendez, 64, pointing a finger at the camera.īut the folksy part of the clip ends abruptly, interrupted with a blaring voice-over, dripping with sarcasm: “Is he kidding?” Bob Menendez, casually dressed in a button-down shirt, open at the collar, walks through working-class Union City, NJ, where he grew up in a family of Cuban immigrants. In a scene from a recent campaign ad, Democratic US Sen. 'The world is watching': Lawmakers press Biden for 'harsh' response to Putin Bob Menendez under investigation – againĪpparently, this House seat belongs to the Menendez family - not the voters
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