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 Menenedez’s seat in the Senate for the remainder of the term, calling his former aide “the ideal leadeer 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.
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