While his father has dominated the headlines with the corruption allegations he faces at trial, Rep. Rob Menendez is fighting for his own political future as well on Tuesday.
In one of the tightest contested races to watch in New Jersey's primary elections, the son of embattled Sen. Bob Menendez will be facing off against a local mayor to determine who will represent New Jersey's 8th district.
Incumbent Rob Menendez, who was elected in 2022, is facing his toughest challenge yet for his seat in the House of Representatives. That test is coming from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, whose campaign has tried to tie Menendez to his father.
"It's something we’ve dealt with in this campaign. I would just submit to the voters: We haven’t hid from it. I’ve done debates, interviews, podcasts," Menendez said Tuesday. "We have nothing to hide from. That’s why we’ve been out there everyday and will be out until polls close."
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Bhalla has nearly matched Menendez in fundraising, with $1.625 million to the incumbent’s $1.642 million, in the New York City suburban district. Menendez, 38, is part of a political dynasty and was previously favored for the spot — but earlier polls showed the two in a dead heat.
The 8th district itself is comprised of portions of three different counties. The Hudson County municipalities of Bayonne, East Newark, Guttenberg, Harrison, Hoboken, North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken and West New York, as well as parts of Jersey City and Kearny, are in the district. The Union County city of Elizabeth is also in the same district, as is part of Newark, in Essex County.
The key county to watch will be Hudson. Bhalla is currently the mayor of the county’s fourth-largest municipality, so his margin in that county will be important to his overall performance in the district.
"We ran a positive campaign of earned accomplishments. As mayor, leading Hoboken in innovation, safe streets, climate resiliency, standing up to MAGA, Trump extremists. But at the same time there was a lot of negativity back and forth in the campaign and some of the outside independent groups," said Bhalla. "That’s what democracy looks like at the the end of the day. I hope when people judge this campaign, they spot the issues, they spot the differences."
There is only one Republican running in the primary, Anthony Valdes.
All 12 of New Jersey's seats in the House of Representatives face primaries on Tuesday, setting up some high-stakes contests for Congress.
Other key races include the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Bob Menendez, who is on trial for federal bribery charges. Three Democrats (led by current Rep. Andy Kim, in addition to labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and civil rights leader Lawrence Hamm) and four Republicans (hotelier Curtis Bradshaw, Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, Navy veteran Albert Harshaw and former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy) are running in that race.
On the GOP side, Bashaw has gotten significant county party backing, and Serrano Glassner won former President Donald Trump's endorsement.
In running for the Senate, Kim is vacating the 3rd Congressional District seat he’s held since 2019. The race to replace him has drawn five Democratic candidates. Kim ousted the Republican incumbent in that district in 2018 in one of the midterms’ closest races, but the district has since been redrawn post-census to be more favorable for Democrats, so the candidate who emerges from the primary is likely to be favored in the fall.
Sen. Menendez filed on Monday to run as an independent. Menendez, his wife, and two business associates have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that the senator traded the promise of official acts for gold bars, cash, a luxury vehicle and a mortgage payment. A third business associate has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in the case for prosecutors.
President Joe Biden and Trump are on the ballot as well, both already their parties' presumptive nominees.
Trump, a Republican, and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, unofficially sealed their parties’ nominations on March 12. They are both on the ballot on Tuesday and can earn more delegates. For Trump, Tuesday marks the first primaries since he became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes.
New Jersey holds its gubernatorial and state legislative elections in odd years, so there are only federal races in this primary.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. The state's Division of Elections has a voter information portal where residents can find their polling place, track mail-in ballots and make sure they are registered.
Here’s a look at what to expect on primary night and other FAQs:
WHO GETS TO VOTE?
Registered party members may vote only in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may participate in either primary.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS
New Jersey allows absentee ballots postmarked by election day to arrive up to six days later, so the number of absentee ballots cast in the primary will not be known until June 10. A close contest in which the number of absentee ballots could impact the outcome could delay a race call.
WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?
As of May 1, there were 6,549,568 registered voters in New Jersey. Of those, 38% were Democrats and 24% were Republicans.
In the 2022 primary election, turnout was about 7% of registered voters in the Democratic primary and 5% in the Republican primary. In that election, 49% of ballots cast in the Democratic primary and 20% of ballots cast in the Republican primary were cast before election day.
As of May 28, a total of 247,807 people had cast ballots before Election Day. About 77% of these ballots were cast in the Democratic primary and 23% in the Republican primary.
HOW LONG DOES VOTE COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?
In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 8:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended around 2 a.m. ET with about 90% of total votes counted.
NEW-LOOK BALLOTS
New this year for Democrats will be the demise of the so-called county line, the ballot system in which those with party backing got grouped together and those without it were frequently listed in what was known as “ballot Siberia.”
The end of the practice stems from a lawsuit Kim and other Democratic candidates brought in federal court, alleging the system unfairly put a thumb on the scale for those with party connections. A federal judge halted the system for this year's Democratic primary only, as no Republicans joined the suit.
Practically, the change means that candidates for office will be grouped together, as is done in every other state.
But that won't go for Republicans — whose county parties that still back candidates have retained the system. State legislative leaders have said they would take up the ballot issue but so far haven't passed any legislation changing how the state conducts primaries.
