GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew mulling challenge against Sen. Bob Menendez

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) said over the weekend that he is considering challenging Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) 2024 reelection bid after the senator and his wife were federally indicted by a grand jury on bribery charges.

Van Drew, the Democrat-turned-Republican who represents the Jersey Shore, joined the litany of state politicians publicly mulling a bid for Menendez’s seat.

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“I really believe Republicans — for the first time in a long time — do have a chance,” Van Drew said in an interview with Save Jersey. “You see Democrats coming out saying he should resign; they are scared. They are going to do everything they can to try and get him out.”

“I think people in New Jersey may be ready for a conservative populist,” he added.

The New Jersey Republican, who was a conservative Democrat until late 2019, told the New York Post he was not making a decision on the matter right away.

“I have been honored that people across New Jersey have asked that I consider running for the United States Senate, and I will be making that consideration,” Van Drew said. “For now though, I will be remaining focused on my critical work for the people of South Jersey and holding this administration accountable for its many wrongdoings.”

Federal prosecutors accuse Menendez and his wife, Nadine, of illegally using the senator’s position as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to peddle influence with donors and benefit the Egyptian government in exchange for cash, gold bars, and other valuables.

The senator has dismissed the charges as part of a larger “smear campaign” against him and vowed to fight them.

“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” he said in a statement after the charges were dropped. “Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.”

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A number of prominent New Jersey Democrats have called on Menendez to resign. Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ), Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), and Democratic state Chairman LeRoy Jones. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and former Attorney General Eric Holder have all called for Menendez to step aside.

Kim, meanwhile, has gone as far as to launch a primary challenge against Menendez, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he feels “compelled to run against” him because New Jersey “deserves better.”