The long, complicated history between Bob Menendez and governor hopeful Steve Fulop

Yahoo

18-03-2025

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has had an on-again-off-again feud with former Sen. Bob Menendez for two decades. (Fulop photo by Reena Rose Sibayan/Menendez photo by Dana DiFilippo)
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has argued to voters that he is best suited to challenge New Jersey's political bosses, touting his criticism of disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez as proof.
One Fulop campaign flyer mailed to voters features Menendez wearing what looks like an orange prison jumpsuit and features pictures of gold bars. Menendez was convicted in July of accepting bribes of gold bars, cash, and more from three businessmen seeking favors.
A television ad promoting Fulop's candidacy notes he was the only Democrat willing to challenge Menendez when Menendez was a member of the House of Representatives.
'Steve Fulop took on developers, Bob Menendez, and the political machine,' the narrator says in another Fulop television spot.
But Fulop's relationship with Menendez, which dates back two decades, is far more complicated than Fulop lets on while on the campaign trail. The two Hudson County Democrats have had an on-again-off-again feud that — now that it's off again — Fulop hopes to leverage to cast himself as an outsider while seeking the state's highest office against five other Democrats (the gubernatorial primary is June 10).
Asked to comment about Fulop's characterization of their relationship, Menendez in a statement from his attorneys described a cozier one than Fulop has described to voters.
'Steve Fulop sought my help when he was running for Mayor, wherein I got the late Congressman Donald Payne to endorse him. He actively courted my support when he ran for Governor the first time, asking me to vouch for him with party leaders and financial supporters, and to help him strategize as to how to get the Democratic nomination, which I did. I did this for him even though he ran against me for Congress. So much for the reformer,' Menendez said.
Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said it makes sense for Fulop to attack Menendez, whom Cassino called 'the most salient symbol of corruption in New Jersey.'
'That said, even though there are candidates who aren't going to attack the institutional party, I don't think anyone is going to be on the campaign trail defending Menendez. That makes it more of a rhetorical tool than a grounds for serious policy disagreement,' Cassino said.
Some of Fulop's first public comments about Menendez were sharply critical.
In 2004, when then-Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham was sparring with his fellow Hudson County Democrats, Cunningham recruited an unknown Fulop to challenge Menendez's bid for reelection to the House of Representatives in the Democratic primary.
Fulop called Menendez 'more of a divider rather than a unifier' and accused the incumbent of 'harassing' his supporters to intimidate him into ending his primary challenge. Fulop lost badly, winning just 12% of the vote.
By July 2013, Fulop had wrapped up two terms on Jersey City's council and had just won election as the city's mayor. Menendez, one of the speakers at Fulop's inauguration, highlighted that both men are children of immigrants.
Two years later, as rumors swirled that Menendez was being investigated by federal prosecutors for taking bribes from a Florida doctor and friend, Fulop defended him, saying, 'Anybody who makes assumptions based on a leaked report obviously doesn't know Sen. Menendez,' according to a March 2015 Wall Street Journal report. Prosecutors indicted Menendez one month later.
Fulop remained close to Menendez in the lead-up to Menendez's corruption trial. At the time, Fulop was toying with running for governor in 2017, and Menendez was one of the insiders advising Fulop on his campaign.
But the relationship became strained after Fulop opted against running for governor and sought reelection as mayor instead. It was aggravated further when, during Menendez's two-and-a-half-month trial, news reports surfaced saying Fulop and other Democrats were quietly planting the seeds for Senate runs if Menendez were found guilty (at the time, Fulop denied doing this).
Menendez was not found guilty. In November 2017, the judge overseeing the case declared a mistrial when the jury deadlocked. Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Menendez issued a now-infamous threat about the politicians who had counted him out.
'To those who were digging my political grave so they could jump into my seat, I know who you are and I won't forget you,' Menendez said.
Though Fulop and others understood him to be the target of that threat, Fulop remained publicly in Menendez's corner. Hours after the mistrial was declared, Fulop said he would support Menendez's reelection bid in 2018, calling Menendez 'a great advocate for New Jersey.'
Things simmered for a bit until 2020, when Menendez's son, Rob, flirted with a mayoral run in Jersey City. The senator and Fulop shared terse exchanges through public statements, with the elder Menendez telling voters that Fulop would abandon them 'once they no longer serve his own political ambition' and Fulop suggesting Menendez was 'hell bent on forcing his son down the throats of Jersey City voters to expand on his own political power.'
The younger Menendez never ran for mayor of Jersey City, but he sought a House seat in 2022. Fulop supported him, touting party unity. Rob Menendez won that election handily.
When Bob Menendez was indicted for the second time in 2023 — also on bribery charges — Fulop was among the Democrats who called on him to resign. He also declined to endorse Rob Menendez's successful 2024 bid for reelection, saying it was 'time to move on' from the Menendez family.
Rob Menendez declined to comment for this story.
Fulop campaign spokeswoman Emily Potoma disputed the notion that Fulop has not offered a nuanced description of his relationship with Bob Menendez while campaigning for governor.
'Mayor Fulop has frequently spoken about his up-and-down relationship with Menendez and has always sought to work with everyone as mayor. During Menendez's re-election, there was no alternative candidate, and the entire state, including Mayor Fulop, supported him,' Potoma said.
When Menendez sought reelection in 2018, he was challenged in the Democratic primary by perennial candidate Lisa McCormick. She won nearly 40% of the vote against Menendez.
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