United States – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has selected his former chief of staff, Bob Menendez, to fill the remainder of Bob Menendez’s term in the U. S. Senate following his resignation from a corruption conviction, according to a source familiar with the decision on Thursday.
Murphy, on Friday, is planning to announce that fellow Democrat George Helmy will succeed Menendez, the source added. The change will keep the party’s simple majority in the Senate 51-49 until a winner is sworn in after November 5, Election Day, which determines the Congress and White House, as reported by Reuters.
Democratic Majority Faces Challenges Ahead
Menendez’s prospective successor, Democratic representative Andy Kim, is also projected to defeat Republican real estate developer Curtis Bashaw in the solidly Democratic state that has not sent a Republican senator to Washington since 1978.
To gain an advantage in the upper chamber, Republicans stand well placed in clinching a Senate majority in the November election. Democrats aim to retain their seats in several states where Donald Trump triumphed in the 2020 election.
George Helmy’s Background and Experience
Helmy worked as Murphy’s chief of staff until October. In a statement at that time, the governor said that Helmy was a guy with public and private sector experience, robust management acumen, and deep networks of contacts across the political divide, making him perfectly equipped for the job. ”
At present, he is working as an executive in a healthcare firm. He has previously served as a staffer for US Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey as well as the late Frank Lautenberg.
Bob Menendez Sr. Resigns After Decades in Congress
Menendez, 70, said he would retire from Congress on August 20 after the three-decade-long congressional service after the federal jury in New York found him guilty of an influence-peddling scheme on July 16 on the charges of conspiracy to commit, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and extortion.
Prosecutors claimed that the seasoned legislator leveraged his position in Congress to bargain billions of U.S. dollars in aides to Egypt in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, a car, and a mortgage from three businessmen, as reported by Reuters.
Rob Menendez is the son of this man and also serves as a U.S Representative from a New Jersey congressional district, the same one his father used to serve before.