New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez’s guilty verdict on federal bribery and corruption charges may have brought the nine-week courtroom drama to a close — but speculation is now swirling over who Gov. Phil Murphy will tap to replace the scandal-scarred Democrat.
Menendez, 70, who was convicted on 16 felony counts for taking bribes from New Jersey businessmen with ties to the Egyptian and Qatari governments could continue to hold office under the Constitution.
But an outraged chorus of senators have already called for his resignation, and could ultimately expel him from the Senate with a two-thirds majority vote.
Murphy, who called for Menendez’s ouster following Tuesday’s conviction, said he would select a “temporary appointment” to finish out the remainder of the senator’s term once his seat is vacated.
“You want someone who’s capable of doing this job for five months, and doing it competently, and not embarrassing our state,” one Democratic insider told The Post.
Here are some of the names NJ political watchers say could be picked to fill a vacated Senate seat:
Rep. Andy Kim
The congressman for New Jersey’s 3rd District is considered Murphy’s most logical pick, pundits said.
Kim, 41, who won the contentious Democratic primary to replace Menendez, would enjoy his brief incumbent advantage during the race in November, when he will seek a full six-year term to replace Menendez, who also is running as an independent in a long-shot bid for a fourth term, Democratic insiders said.
The interim Senate role would also give Kim seniority over other freshman senators elected in November, putting him ahead for committee seats that would most benefit New Jersey, said Ross Baker, professor of political science at Rutgers University.
Murphy, however, has reasons to pass over Senate Democratic nominee for the interim appointment — most notably the bad blood between the pair over Kim besting the governor’s wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, in the fierce primary race, insiders and experts said.
“In New Jersey politics, everything’s personal, and Andy Kim for all his virtues is the man who challenged Tammy Murphy,” Baker said.
Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way
Way, who Murphy appointed to serve as his administration’s third lieutenant governor last year, is a sensible placeholder pick, Democratic sources said.
Way, 52, who also serves as New Jersey’s Secretary of State, successfully handled the transition to her new position in the administration, but also is “someone [the governor] is comfortable with and who will understand the role she being asked to fulfill, one Democratic insider said.
“They don’t expect her to one, run [for office], and two, do anything that would be not without checking in with the governor’s office down in DC,” the insider added.
Patricia Campos-Medina
Labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina, who also challenged Kim for Democratic party’s Senate nomination in June, has been cited by operatives as a possible fill-in pol and reportedly has expressed interest in the role.
Campos-Medina, 51, whose family fled with civil war in El Salvador, campaigned as representing the interests of Black and Latino voters in addition to strengthening reproductive rights and union protections, but ultimately secured just 16% of the Democratic primary vote.
Still, selecting Campos-Medina for the interim role would be an opportunity for Murphy to replace Menendez with another Hispanic person, in addition to the state’s first female US senator, a veteran New Jersey Democratic strategist said.
“She’s a progressive, she’s well-known in Democratic circles, she gets along pretty well with a lot of people,” the strategist said. “It could be a ‘Murphy making history’ kind of thing.”
Tammy Murphy
Tammy Murphy may have dropped out of the Democratic Senate primary, but some New Jersey politicos suggest the First Lady’s path to Washington hasn’t been completely closed off just yet.
GOP strategist and former Senate candidate Alex Zdan mused that the governor has likely faced a ‘round-the-clock lobbying effort from wife, who is 58, to send her to the upper chamber, and his appointment power provides complete authority to put her in office “without any repercussions.”
“To me, the decision has already been made,” he said. “It’s a question of whether or not the governor’s political advisors can talk him out of it.”
Murphy vowed back in October that he would not appoint his wife to the senator’s seat should he resign, although that pledge predated the First Lady’s failed campaign.