Corrected 7:35 p.m. | Six months ago, Sen. Bob Menendez didn’t make Roll Call’s list of most vulnerable Senate incumbents, but that was before the New Jersey Democrat was indicted on federal bribery and extortion charges and prosecutors released pictures of gold bars and stacks of cash found in his home.
While Menendez has vigorously denied the allegations, there have been mounting calls for him to resign from members of his own party. A poll released last month by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 70 percent of his constituents want him to step aside.
New Jersey is a blue state and Menendez’s departure from the chamber would be more likely to happen in a Democratic primary, and the Garden State is not one of the places Republicans are looking right now for the two seats they need to take the majority next year.
