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U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (left) and Republican senatorial hopeful Bob Hugin
Labor Day is traditionally the start of the fall election season — but not this year. The state’s hottest campaigns are alreay in full swing, having barely stopped for breath after the primary. Some of the contests — particularly the Senate seat at the top of the ticket — have already gotten quite nasty.
The tone and intensity of the campaigns speak to the urgency of this year’s midterm elections, with Democrats eager to take back the U.S. House of Representatives by flipping at least 24 seats. Four of New Jersey’s five seats currently held by Republicans are part of that strategy. A GOP political action committee, meanwhile, has spent more than $1 million so far in the state and opened local field offices in two of those contested districts in an effort to keep them red.
At the same time, Democrats, trailing by just one seat in the U.S. Senate, had not expected to have to put much work into defending Sen. Bob Menendez in a state that has not elected a Republican to the upper house in more than four decades. But the race is tight due to Menendez’s recent trial on corruption charges, which were later dismissed.
Mud for mud
Menendez finally began running his own television spots late last month, slinging mud back at Republican Bob Hugin, who has spent millions of his own money in the past few months running unanswered ads focusing on Menendez’s indictment. The Democrat was charged with accepting gifts and travel from a campaign donor on whose behalf he intervened with a federal agency. Menendez said the gifts were from a friend. A
