U.S. Rep. Andy Kim announces bid for Senate, challenging indicted Bob Menendez
The 41-year-old congressman had called on the senator to resign after a corruption indictment.
Rep. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) announced Saturday that he is running for the U.S Senate, challenging incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez amid calls for the Democrat to resign after he was indicted on federal corruption charges.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Kim noted that Menendez had “said ‘I am not going anywhere.’ As a result, I feel compelled to run against him. Not something I expected to do, but N.J. deserves better.”
Kim, whose district covers parts of Central and South New Jersey, called on Menendez to resign Friday evening, joining a growing chorus of high-level Democrats suggesting that the four-term senator step down after federal investigators accused Menendez and his wife, Nadine, of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for political influence.
“The allegations are serious and alarming,” Kim wrote in a statement in the hours after the federal indictment was unsealed Friday. “It doesn’t matter what your job title is or your politics — no one is above the law.”
Kim, 41, is currently serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives after he was first elected in 2018, ousting two-time incumbent Republican Tom MacArthur.
The Moorestown resident is the first Asian American elected to federal office from New Jersey, and is a former White House National Security official.
Menendez is up for reelection in 2024. Before the indictment, he said he would seek another term.
Senior party officials, including New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and General Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, have since joined Kim in calling for Menendez’s resignation, the latter saying in a statement that “once that trust is broken, we cannot continue.”
The indictment alleges that Nadine Menendez introduced her husband to Egyptian intelligence and military officials, who investigators say the senator provided “non-public information” about U.S. military aid to the country in exchange for cash and gifts.
Menendez slammed the charges, denying any wrongdoing on behalf of himself and his wife.
“The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent,” Sen. Menendez wrote in a statement Friday. “They have misrepresented the normal work of a congressional office. On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they have attacked my wife for the long-standing friendships she had before she and I even met.”
This story is developing and will be updated.