Bob Menendez to resign after corruption conviction

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, center, exits federal court in New York — Menendez will be sentenced in October and could face lengthy prison time

(Image credit: Yuki Iwamura / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

What happened

A week after he was convicted of 16 federal corruption charges, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez announced Tuesday that he would resign from the Senate seat that he has held since 2006, effective as of Aug. 20.

Who said what

Menendez submitted his letter of resignation to New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy a day after the Senate Ethics Committee announced plans for an "adjudicatory review." Such a review is "required when the committee considers disciplinary actions, such as expulsion or censure," the panel said.

By quitting well ahead of the end of his term, Menendez will "allow Democrats to avoid a potentially ugly intraparty fight at a highly fraught political moment," The New York Times said. His conviction had "become a distraction for Democrats on the Hill," said The Washington Post, "with one of his colleagues, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), even following him around the hallways at times, yelling at him to resign."

What next?

Menendez is due to be sentenced in late October and "could face decades in prison," The Wall Street Journal said. Democratic Rep. Andy Kim is the party's nominee to replace Menendez, winning the nod after a "bruising contest with Tammy Murphy, the wife of the governor," the Times said. In the interim, the governor has the "sole authority to select a temporary replacement," NJ.com said.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.