Menendez name was once a gift for NJ representative. Now, a primary challenger eyes the prize.

Published Apr 27, 2024

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Published Apr 27, 2024

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An unusually competitive Democratic primary race for Congress is taking place in Hudson County, New Jersey as incumbent Rep. Rob Menendez, who easily won his seat two years ago, tries to distinguish himself from his embattled father, Sen. Bob Menendez.

Two factors kicked open the doors to this primary race, which is taking place in a county where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans and where party leaders are used to picking candidates with little to no opposition: the salacious corruption charges against Bob Menendez and court-ordered changes that restrict the Hudson County political machine from giving Rob Menendez preferential treatment on the ballot.

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla is challenging Rob Menendez, and several polls show both candidates are just a few points apart.

“This is probably the first time that I can remember, as a grown adult, where the race for Congress in the 8th District is an election, not a selection, and that's what democracy is about,” Bhalla said.

Bhalla, 50, was elected mayor of Hoboken in 2017. He is the son of Indian immigrants, was born and raised in New Jersey, and worked as a civil rights attorney before becoming mayor.

“I want to see change within the 8th District. It's a district of working families, who often have been marginalized, who have been on the sidelines, who don't have a seat at the table,” Bhalla said.

The 8th Congressional District — which includes all of Hudson County, Elizabeth in Union County and part of Newark in Essex County — is the only Latino-majority district in New Jersey. Rob Menendez’s supporters say the area should be represented by a Latino, like the incumbent.

But Dan Cassino, a pollster with Fairleigh Dickinson University, said the Menendez name, which was once a door-opener, is now causing problems.

“When you're polling this race, you have voters saying ‘Wait, Menendez is on the ballot?’ Like they don't recognize that it's not his father,” Cassino said. “So that Menendez name, now, in most of the state, is really just so toxic.”

Rob Menendez, who has stood by his father amid the corruption charges, said he understands the association voters are making. But he said he worked hard during his first term to establish himself as his own man.

“People know me, people trust me, and they know that I'm always going to show up for them. That's why we have the support that we have,” Menendez said. “Despite the challenges that exist because of my father and because of the last name, they trust me, they know that we're two separate people and they know that I do the work and will continue to do the work.”

A Rutgers University Eagleton Center for Politics poll found the elder Menendez had a favorability rating of just 6% last November, and Cassino said that is hurting the younger Menendez in his congressional bid.

Ravi Bhalla and Hector Oseguera kock on doors in Union City. Bhalla, the mayor of Hoboken, is running in the Democratic Primary for the 8th Congressional District.

“I think a lot of that is probably people thinking he's his father, but he also hasn't done much to distinguish himself from his father in the past year,” Cassino said.

Both congressional campaigns have conducted their own internal polling, but came up with conflicting results. In Rob Menendez’s campaign’s poll, he was leading 46% to 24%. But a Bhalla campaign poll has the Hoboken mayor trailing by a much slimmer margin, 44%-41%, with 15% undecided.

A third Democrat in the race, Kyle Jasey, is polling in single digits. Jasey is the son of Mila Jasey, a former state assemblymember from Essex County. He started a company, Jasey Capital, that lends money for small real estate projects. Jasey first announced he would run for Senate against Bob Menendez, but then decided to campaign for the congressional seat after first lady Tammy Murphy announced her own ill-fated Senate run.

There is one Republican candidate running: Anthony Valdez of West New York. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in the district nearly 5-to-1.

Rob Menendez, 38, is a lawyer and was a commissioner for the Port Authority before becoming a congressmember. He grew up in Union City when his father was the mayor and then a member of Congress. He proudly touts his office's strong constituent services, and said it handled 1,500 requests in his first two years in Congress.

He is endorsed by a long list of elected officials in Hudson County, including several members of the Hoboken City Council who work directly with Bhalla.

“He has done so much in the first term for the entire district, for Hoboken as well,” Hoboken Councilmember Tiffanie Fisher said. “He's so smart on every single policy issue ranging from transportation to immigration, to helicopters, to you name it.”

Rep. Rob Menendez speaks at a campaign event in Hoboken. Menendez is seeking reelection, and faces Rhavi Bhalla in the Democratic primary.

Helicopter noise is a frequent complaint of residents from Jersey City and Hoboken because Statue of Liberty tours hover over the cities — and both candidates have advocated against air traffic. Bhalla also wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration to complain about the regulations.

Rob Menendez and Bhalla have similar policy priorities and stances. They both say they want to work on affordability, gun control, protecting reproductive rights, supporting unions, funding child care and education, and fighting climate change.

Some progressive Democrats in Hudson County say they aren’t supporting Rob Menendez because they believe he only got the job because his father was a U.S. senator.

“To me, and I think this is the way a lot of us think about it is, he has to make a case that he deserves the seat other than who he's related to. He has to make a case that he's the best-qualified person for that seat,” said Eleana Little, a Jersey City activist. “Because I think it was a pretty cut and dry case of nepotism. He was basically anointed as the next congressman for the 8th District.”

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