The trial is scheduled to take place during the height of the gubernatorial campaign season, when Democrats will be working to retake the governor's office. | Getty Facing corruption trial, Menendez keeps a lid on successor talks

Shortly after Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted on corruption charges in 2015, former Sen. Robert Torricelli started meeting with New Jersey political insiders.

Menendez's term expires in January 2019, but Torricelli was signaling his interest in the seat should Menendez step down sooner. All the while, though, he continued to voice his support for the embattled senator.


But no matter how gingerly Torricelli stepped, he couldn’t avoid offending Menendez. When Torricelli spoke to the state’s largest newspaper about his interest in the seat, criticism rained down on him. Most New Jersey politicos assumed the criticism was at Menendez’s behest.

South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross, whose brother, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, is considered a possible successor to Menendez, called the moves by Torricelli — who dropped his 2002 Senate re-election bid amid his own ethics controversy — "discourteous and ill-advised.” Joseph DiVincenzo, the powerful Essex County executive, called it “disrespectful.”

Almost two years after his indictment, Menendez has kept New Jersey Democrats on remarkable lockdown, preventing most of them from even thinking about raising their own names to replace him.

“Senator Menendez has the support of the Democratic Party in New Jersey. In fact, we’ve been on the receiving end of calls all day from key party leaders letting us know that they fully support Senator Menendez and look forward to him finally having his day in court and putting this behind him,” Menendez adviser Michael Soliman said in a statement.

Most Republicans, led by Gov. Chris Christie — once a bitter rival of Menendez whose top strategist is business partners with the senator's top strategist— have been largely silent as well. Some were even sympathetic immediately after the indictment, suggesting it was Obama administration payback for opposing the former president’s Iran policy.

The one Republican who has spoken out is Christie’s father, Bill Christie. In an email to New Jersey reporters, the elder Christie attached an NJ.com story about Menendez criticizing President Donald Trump’s threat to defund “sanctuary cities.”

“Still another story about Senator Menendez, pronouncing his moral outrage over unlawful sanctuary cities, and no message of alert to NJ voters that he is under Federal indictment. In fairness, our governor has experienced your daily 'Bridgegate paragraphs' while our Senator's INDICTMENT is ignored,” Bill Christie wrote. “Utterly super unfair and blatant bias, the likes of which must personally embarrass you when your children look back on your behavior.”

Menendez is accused of doing political favors for his friend, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, in exchange for campaign donations, vacations and private jet flights. Since the indictment was so long ago, it often goes unmentioned in other news stories about the senator, who bristles when POLITICO asks him about the charges at unrelated news conferences. And after taking an initial hit, the senator's poll numbers have largely recovered.

But on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Menendez’s appeal to toss some of the corruption charges against him, clearing the way for a trial in September and making his removal from office more realistic than ever.

The trial is scheduled to take place during the height of the gubernatorial campaign season, when Democrats will be working to retake the governor's office.

The campaign of Phil Murphy, the Democratic frontrunner for governor, is not concerned the trial will not hurt their candidate.

"Senator Menendez has been an outstanding public servant for the people of New Jersey,” Murphy strategist Julie Roginsky said in a statement. “In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty and everyone, regardless of who they are, should be accorded that presumption."

Trump is another reason the Murphy campaign isn't concerned.

Trump's domination of the news cycle is likely to continue through the trial, and Murphy is running against Trump as well as Christie’s legacy. Trump’s approval rating in New Jersey is 34 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll released last week, while Menendez’s is 45 percent. Christie’s is 19 percent.

If Menendez were to step down voluntarily — something he has said he will not do — Christie would select an interim replacement, presumably a Republican.

The GOP hasn't won a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey since 1972; there have been two appointed interim incumbents since then, but neither ran for a full term. Giving a Republican an incumbency leg up in 2018 could be a headache for Democrats, who are already facing a daunting electoral map and wouldn’t want to have to divert resources to what should be a safely Democratic seat.

“I think the Democratic Party is actually quite united in giving Bob Menendez every opportunity to prove his innocence, but I think there’s an equal determination that under any scenario this seat not be lost to the Republicans,” Torricelli said in a phone interview. "It would be catastrophic for public policy if New Jersey were ever add to the Republican majority and make a future Democratic majority almost impossible in the Senate. The important thing is simply to be ready to vigorously defend the seat but hope for the best with Bob Menendez.”

Soliman, the Menendez spokesman, has no such concerns.

"It hasn’t been since 1972 that New Jersey has elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate. So as a general rule, it’s safe to assume that New Jersey is a blue state as it relates to U.S. senators and federal policy,” he said. “I don’t foresee New Jerseyans sending a Republican to the U.S. Senate any time soon. This is especially true after Trump who, despite riding a national wave, lost badly in New Jersey. New Jersey Democrats, like Menendez himself, believe that he will be vindicated.”

Menendez would likely face immense pressure to resign if convicted by a jury, based on recent precedent. After Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted in October 2008 on corruption charges, the Alaska Republican was pressured by top members of his party to resign or face expulsion. He lost his re-election bid the next week and stayed in office until the end of his term.



Assembly minority leader Jon Bramnick, a moderate Republican and Christie loyalist, is seen as a potential Christie pick to replace Menendez. Bramnick said state Republicans’ reticence on Menendez is just about timing.

“We have a battle here for governor right now. Normally when we have a primary for governor and everyone is focused on the governor’s race, it’s not until after the governor’s race that everyone’s talking about who’s going to run for Senate,” Bramnick said.

But he acknowledged Menendez has helped himself by acting like nothing is out of the ordinary.

“He continues on with a great deal of confidence, and I think that helps him a great deal,” Bramnick said. “It doesn’t seem like he’s hiding. To some degree it seems he’s out here fully engaged without, on the surface at least, deep concerns about the indictment.”

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to reflect that Menendez would likely face pressure to resign or be expelled from the Senate if convicted by a jury.