If all the seats that seemed possible for the GOP the Republicans were expected to pick up some Senate seats this year from incumbent Democrats in states won By President Trump. But no one ever saw this one coming.
The incumbent barely won over a no name candidate and before the primary was only four points ahead of the GOP candidate. That is in New Jersey where it appears Bob Menendez is in a world of trouble and could very well be beaten by retired pharmaceutical executive Bob Hugin. The last time a Republican was a Senator in NJ was in 1982 and that was a recess appointment that lasted from April to December. The last elected Republican was Howard Alexander Smith, who served from 1944 to 1959.
Felony public corruption charges against Menendez were dropped by the Department of Justice in January after the case against Menendez and co-defendant Dr. Salmon Melgen, heard in a federal court in New Jersey, ended in a mistrial in November. In April, a jury in a trial held in a federal court in Florida convicted Melgen of 67 felony counts of Medicare fraud.
“Senator Menendez’s recent federal trial and bipartisan admonishment by his Senate colleagues are clearly taking their toll. It’s not uncommon for incumbents to cruise to reelection, but these numbers suggest he’s going to have to woo voters like he hasn’t had to in a long time,” Krista Jenkins, director of the poll and professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said in a statement released with the poll.
I guess voters don’t go by reasonable doubt. You do someone favors and he gives you hundreds of thousands in presents, some people see that as corruption. Imagine that. There are a lot of undecideds in the polls but they normally break toeards the challeger because they already know who the incumbent is.