Menendez drops independent reelection bid for Senate ahead of resignation

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has ended his independent campaign for reelection as he prepares to resign after his conviction on federal bribery and corruption charges.

Menendez filed to run as an independent in June while his trial was underway, looking to keep his options open pending the outcome. He was convicted six weeks later and announced he would resign effective Tuesday.

Still, his continued candidacy as an independent raised the possibility that he could complicate the race between the major-party nominees, Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw. Friday was the deadline for Menendez to withdraw as an independent candidate.

The New Jersey Division of Elections received an email Friday afternoon from Menendez asking to be removed from the ballot.

“By means of this email please be advised that as an Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in November’s election I am advising you that I wish to have my name withdrawn from the ballot,” Menendez wrote to the division’s acting director.

Menendez’s email came the same day that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appointed his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to temporarily fill the Senate seat after Menendez steps down next week. Helmy will not run for the full term that starts in January, allowing Kim and Bashaw to face off in the November election.

Democrats are expected to retain the Senate seat in solidly blue New Jersey.

Menendez was convicted in July of taking bribes from three businessmen who provided gifts to him and his wife, including a luxury car and gold bars. A jury in Manhattan federal court found him of all 16 felony counts he was facing.

“Bob Menendez’s corruption has been a distraction in New Jersey government and politics for years,” Bashaw said in a statement Friday. “It’s time to move on with this election and make it a clean, straightforward race focusing on the issues facing our state.”