New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tapped a US Senate replacement for convicted Sen. Bob Menendez on Friday, as the disgraced Garden State Democrat announced he would abandon his 2024 independent run.
Murphy chose his ex-chief of staff George Helmy to take Menendez’s seat in the Senate for the remainder of the term, calling his former aide “the ideal leader to take on this role” during a Newark press conference.
“George understands on a very fundamental level how a US Senate office operates … and he will bring to this office firsthand expertise in providing the best possible constituent service,” the New Jersey governor predicted of Helmy, who served under him from 2019 to 2023.
“That expertise will be especially relevant over the next few months as the presidential election rapidly approaches and as the Senate will be in recess as a result for much of the fall,” he added.
Menendez, 70, is expected to formally resign from his Senate position on Tuesday after he was convicted on 16 bribery counts for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and luxury goods while using his political office to protect the interests of three Garden State businessmen, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
The three-term Democratic senator had entertained a third-party bid for his own seat during the New Jersey primary season — but informed the state’s election division he would suspend that effort on Friday.
“[A]s an Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in this November’s election I am advising you that I wish to have my name withdrawn from the ballot,” Menendez wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Post.
He had until Friday to inform the New Jersey Secretary of State about whether he intended to continue his independent run, which he began in June one month before a federal jury found him guilty of the corruption charges.
Helmy currently serves as executive vice president and external affairs and policy officer at the health care company RWJBarnabas Health — and was briefly mentioned during Menendez’s trial when former state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal testified about receiving an inappropriate inquiry from the Murphy aide related to the ongoing criminal case.
The former Murphy aide will only complete Menendez’s term, as two other candidates — Democratic Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Republican opponent and real estate developer Curtis Bashaw — vie to serve another six years starting in January 2025.
While Menendez’s independent bid could have eaten away at some of his lead, Kim is still the odds-on favorite to win in November.
Menendez, meanwhile, is facing decades in prison and will be sentenced Oct. 29 — six days before the 2024 election.
