Rep. Andy Kim Announces Primary Challenge To Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez | EUROtoday

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) introduced Saturday he would problem indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, changing into the primary main intraparty challenger to emerge since Menendez insisted he wouldn’t step down within the face of fees he accepted bribes from three businessmen.

“After calls to resign, Senator Menendez said ‘I am not going anywhere,’” Kim wrote on the social media website previously often known as Twitter. “As a result, I feel compelled to run against him. Not something I expected to do, but NJ deserves better. We cannot jeopardize the Senate or compromise our integrity.”

Following the unsealing of the Justice Department’s indictment of Menendez on Friday, main New Jersey Democrats, together with Gov. Phil Murphy, have known as for him to resign from his put up. Menendez was beforehand charged in a distinct corruption scandal, although the Justice Department dropped the fees after a hung jury led to a mistrial in 2017.

In a press release Friday night time, Menendez angrily beat again requires him to depart workplace.

“It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat,” he stated. “I am not going anywhere.”

Kim, now in his third time period, might not be the one Democrat curious about difficult Menendez, and a resignation would virtually actually result in a crowded major in safely Democratic New Jersey. Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer might additionally enter the competition.

Menendez, who has not formally introduced he intends to run for reelection, additionally has two lesser-known challengers from the GOP: consulting agency proprietor Shirley Maia-Cusick and Christine Serrano Glassner, the mayor of suburban Mendham Borough.