- Menendez Fallout: Senate Democrats up for reelection next year were falling over themselves today to call for the resignation of their colleague Bob Menendez, post-indictment. But one member’s call, in particular, drew outsize attention: Mendendez’s mentee and New Jersey’s junior senator, Cory Booker. As of press time, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, John Fetterman, Jacky Rosen, John Tester, and Peter Welch had also called for Menendez to step down. “You realize all these Senators are coming out now before they get ‘gaggled’ tonight…” one Democratic lobbyist quipped over text, referring to the swarm of reporters hanging around the Senate chamber. Naturally, there’s some political gamesmanship afoot. Now, if Menendez does stay on (as he seems determined to do), Democrats can say they held one of their own facing indictment to a standard that Republicans won’t with George Santos, or G.O.P. presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. For inquiring minds, the last time the Senate expelled a member was 1862, for siding with Confederacy. Since the Civil War, the Senate has instead leaned on censure as a punishment to pressure senators into resignation.
Again, keep an eye on the county chairs in New Jersey, where Menendez is bleeding support. But even their power is limited to denying Menendez local endorsements that give preferential treatment on the ballot (known as “the line”) in the state’s June primary. If Menendez sticks this out, he risks pariah status until he faces reelection, but that’s about it for now.
