Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who’s currently on trial on 16 federal corruption counts, filed Monday to run for reelection as an independent, threatening to become a spoiler in a New Jersey race that Democrats would not normally fret about.
The senator announced in March that he would not seek reelection as a Democrat but said he was ”hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
Menendez’s trial is nowhere near finished and will not wrap up until well after Tuesday’s filing deadline.
Rep. Andy Kim is widely expected to be the Democratic nominee for Menendez’s Senate seat, though he faces two opponents in Tuesday’s primary: Labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm.
