There’s several factors keeping Democrats from feeling impending doom, including the fact Menendez was nearly acquitted. | AP Photo New Jersey Democrats not panicking about Menendez retrial

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is intent on seeking reelection this year despite facing a retrial on federal corruption charges, and New Jersey’s Democratic leaders aren’t trying to stop him.

“Senator Menendez fully expects to be vindicated and has every intention of running for reelection, continuing to fight Donald Trump’s policies on behalf of New Jersey,” Menendez adviser Michael Soliman said in a statement Friday night — hours after the Justice Department announced its intent to retry the senator.


At first glance, it looks like a nightmare scenario for Democrats, who face an already tough map nationally to win control of the Senate. Menendez’s poll numbers took a big hit during last year’s corruption trial, in which he was accused of doing political favors for his friend and co-defendant, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, in exchange for private jet flights, lavish vacations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.

A Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted mostly after the jury deadlocked found 51 percent of New Jersey voters thought Menendez didn’t deserve reelection, despite the fact that the jury came just two votes short of acquitting the senator on most charges. Menendez’s corruption charges will now continue to make headlines, threatening to put in play a seat in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate in more than 45 years.

“I think it’s a huge opportunity for Republicans,” New Jersey Republican State Chairman Doug Steinhardt said. “You’re running into an election cycle where he’s going to be sidelined for the indefinite future while he’s got to defend himself on corruption charges while we get to run a campaign.”

New Jersey Democrats aren’t convinced of the threat. And at least for now, they’re giving unequivocal support to Menendez.

“When you believe in somebody, you stick with them,” said LeRoy Jones, the Democratic chairman of Essex County, one of New Jersey’s biggest Democratic bastions. “I have a strong belief in Bob Menendez that is, I would say, unflappable.”

But beneath that rhetoric are far more practical considerations. The biggest is a precedent set in 2002, when Democratic Sen. Bob Torricelli — damaged by his own scandal involving gifts from a campaign contributor — dropped his reelection bid.

In October of that year, the state Supreme Court allowed Democrats to swap Torricelli’s name on the ballot with that of former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who regretted his decision to retire two years earlier. Lautenberg won the election over Doug Forrester, a wealthy businessman and former small town mayor, by 10 points. (Torricelli, who has become wealthy in real estate, is now openly seeking to run for Menendez's seat if the senator drops out.)

So Democrats have time on their side.

“At the end of the day, there’s always going to be a stopgap measure if you look for democracy where there will be two candidates from the two major parties,” said Lou Stellato, the Democratic chairman of Bergen County, the largest county in the state.

There’s several other factors keeping Democrats from feeling impending doom, including the fact Menendez was nearly acquitted.

“This last mistrial, it was 10-2 — and it was 11-2 if you count the one woman who went on vacation and was adamant [in favor of acquittal],” Stellato said. “If it was 6-5, 6-6, you’d say OK. But that was overwhelming.”

Democrats can also bank on demographics and voting trends, which have only gotten more favorable for them since 2002, when there were 270,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Today, there are 884,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in New Jersey. That’s on top of anti-Trump sentiment in many parts of the state, including some of the well-heeled, traditionally Republican areas.

“It’s easy to say Menendez can’t win,” Stellato said. “OK, who’s going to beat him?”

Jennifer Duffy, senior editor at the Cook Political Report, said Democrats appeared to feel more urgency about the seat during the last corruption trial, when Republican Gov. Chris Christie would have appointed a replacement had the senator resigned. Now, if Menendez resigns, newly sworn in Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy would choose the successor.

“The urgency of potentially losing the seat, even temporarily, is gone. I don’t see a lot of panic,” she said.

Republicans clearly have a candidate in mind: Robert Hugin, a multimillionaire pharmaceutical executive who has met with Republican leaders to explore a run.

“I’m confident we have as good a chance in New Jersey as we’ve had in a long time to reclaim a Senate seat,” Steinhardt, the state GOP chairman, said. “Mr. Hugin hasn’t announced yet, but if he does his resume makes him a formidable candidate in any race.”

And while Steinhardt acknowledged Democrats have until the fall to switch out a candidate if Menendez’s troubles don’t subside, he noted that would depend on Menendez agreeing to drop his reelection bid. For many, that’s hard to imagine for a senator who is confident he’ll be vindicated.

“I think the question everyone has to ask themselves is if Bob Menendez is Bob Torricelli,” Steinhardt said, referring to the fact that Torricelli resigned. “It requires a voluntary decision on the senator’s part. I don’t know if Menendez would do that."