Our next election preview is the 2024 New Jersey Senate race, and for a minute, it looked like it could be slightly interesting.
It is not every day that an incumbent United States Senator is running for re-election but could, if anything, be a spoiler candidate. Nevertheless, that is exactly where we were in New Jersey: Sen. Bob Menendez (D) ran for re-election despite his recent federal convictions, but decided to run as an independent.
That was, of course, until he decided to end his campaign over the summer and resigned from the Senate on August 20. Had he stayed in the race, he would have lost, and only played a minor spoiler for Andy Kim (D).
2024 New Jersey Senate Race Preview
2024 New Jersey Senate Race Candidates
Links to available candidate or information websites are included below – these links open in the same tab. Please only click on links you trust.
- Andy Kim (D)
- Curtis Bashaw (R)
Bob Menendez (I)*(resigned August 20)- Ken Kaplan (Lbt)
- Christina Khalil (Grn)
- Joanne Kuniansky (SWP)
- Patricia Mooneyham (I)
What Now That Menendez Is Resigning?
Bob Menendez would have lost the Democratic primary if he ran in it, so he filed to run as an independent. Then, following his conviction, a potential prison sentence and likely expulsion from the Senate hung over his political head. As if voters were not already turned off in the Garden State, either one of those two things – and both may occur – would have ended whatever independent campaign he planned to run, anyway.
New Jersey is a true-blue Democratic state at the federal level. The last time New Jersey elected a Republican to the Senate was in 1972, as Clifford Case was re-elected for the final time. At that, he was a more liberal Republican. Not to say New Jersey avoids all Republicans, because Chris Christie’s governorship was not too long ago, but for the most part.
Menendez likely would not have taken more than a few percent off of Rep. Andy Kim, the Democratic nominee. Had Menendez stayed in the race, he would have come in a distant third as Kim won his old seat. Now, with Menendez gone from the race, Kim will have little difficulty getting elected New Jersey’s next senator.
