Bob Menendez

Robert Menendez born January 1 1954 is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Jersey a seat he has held since 2006 A member of the Democratic Party he was first appointed to the US Senate by Governor Jon Corzine and chaired the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 2013 to 2015 and again since 2021 In 1974 at the age of 20 Menendez was elected to the Union City School Districts Board of Education He received degrees from Saint Peters University and Rutgers Law School In 1986 he was elected mayor of Union City In 1988 while continuing to serve as mayor he was elected to represent the states 33rd district in the New Jersey General Assembly and within three years moved to the New Jersey Senate upon winning the March 1991 special election for the 33rd Senate district The next year Menendez won a seat in the House of Representatives and represented New Jerseys 13th congressional district for six twoyear terms from 1993 to 2006 In January 2006 he was appointed to fill the US Senate seat being vacated by Jon Corzine who had been elected governor of New Jersey and was elected to a full sixyear term in November he was reelected in 2012 and 2018 In 2015 Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges the jury was unable to reach a verdict and the charges were dropped in 2018 In April 2018 the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics severely admonished Menendez for accepting gifts from donor Salomon Melgen without obtaining committee approval for failing to disclose certain gifts and for using his position as a senator to advance Melgens interests