(Daily Caller)—Democratic New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim said Saturday that he will challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in 2024 after calls for his resignation following his indictment.
Menendez and his wife were indicted on Friday on charges including three counts of alleged bribery, fraud and extortion in the Southern District of New York. After Menendez declined the numerous calls from fellow Democrats to resign, Kim said he felt “compelled” to primary the senator, according to his Twitter.
“After calls to resign, Senator Menendez said ‘I am not going anywhere.’ As a result, I feel compelled to run against him. Not something I expected to do, but NJ deserves better. We cannot jeopardize the Senate or compromise our integrity. Please join me,” Kim wrote, including a link for donations.
Along with Kim, numerous elected Democratic officials from New Jersey have called on Menendez to resign, including Gov. Phil Murphy, state Democratic Party Chairman LeRoy Jones, General Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and former Rep. Tom Malinowski. Democratic Rep. Dean Philips of Minnesota and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania have also asked Menendez to step aside.
“Those who believe in justice believe in innocence until proven guilty,” Menendez said in a statement. “I intend to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success I’ve had for the past five decades. This is the same record of success these very same leaders have lauded all along. It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere.”
The charges brought against Menendez related to allegedly receiving lavish gifts, like cash, gold bars and a luxury car, in return for political favors in the upper chamber. Menendez has denied the allegations.
Menendez previously served in both chambers of the state Legislature, as well as the U.S. House, according to Ballotpedia. The senator has held his seat since 2006, and is running for a fourth term next year.
Menendez did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
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Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
