TRENTON, NJ — New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is expected to resign by the end of the day Tuesday, about a month after a grand jury convicted him on federal bribery charges.
Menendez resigned last month in a letter to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who said Friday that he to approach a former top adviser to succeed the incumbent official for three terms.
George Helmy will succeed Menendez until the November election results for the Senate seat are certified by the end of the month, the governor said. At that point, Murphy said Helmy will step down and he will appoint the winner of the election for the seat.
The stakes in the Senate election are high, with Democrats holding on to a narrow majority. Republicans have not won a Senate election in Democratic-leaning New Jersey in more than five decades.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican hotel developer Curtis Bashaw are running against each other in the general election.
Helmy, 44, served as Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 to 2023 and is currently an executive at one of the state’s largest health care providers, RWJBarnabas Health. He previously served as state director to Senate Sen. Cory Booker.
Menendez, 70, was convicted on charges that he used his influence to interfere in three separate state and federal criminal investigations to protect the businessmen. Prosecutors said he helped one friend who paid bribes close a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat destined for Egypt.
He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited the Egyptian government in exchange for bribes, including providing details about personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators about lifting a freeze on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents also said they found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 hidden in Menendez’s home.
Menendez denied all allegations and stated in a letter to Murphy last month, he said He plans to appeal the conviction.
The resignation appears to mark the end of a nearly lifelong political career for Menendez, who was first elected to his local school board just a few years after graduating from high school. He was also elected to the state legislature and Congress before moving to the Senate.
Menendez is the only U.S. senator to be indicted twice.
In 2015, he was accused of helping a wealthy Florida ophthalmologist buy his influence through lavish vacations and campaign contributions. After a jury in 2017 could not reach a unanimous verdict, federal prosecutors in New Jersey dropped the case rather than retry him.
He served in Congress as a Democrat but decided not to run in this year’s primaries as his legal case unfolded. submitted to be able to act as an independent candidate in the fall, although he withdrew his name from the polls on Friday, according to a letter he sent to state election officials.