NEW YORK — New Jersey’s first lady Tammy Murphy is throwing her hat into the ring to replace embattled U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.
Murphy says she’s the best woman for the job, but Menendez is already making it clear he won’t go out quietly.
Though she’s never held public office, Murphy said she’s ready to move out of the governor’s mansion and down to Washington as Senator Murphy.
The mother of four cites her work as first lady to improve maternal health care in New Jersey and combat climate change.
But Menendez, who Murphy hopes to unseat, has already come our swinging, telling a New Jersey newspaper that Murphy owns her husband’s record on taxes and COVID deaths in state-run nursing homes for veterans.
Menendez also called Murphy’s “rush to judgment” and calls for Menendez to resign amid his indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges a “blatant maneuver at disenfranchisement.”
Other Democrats running to fill Menendez’s seat include Andy Kim, Kyle Jasey and Lawrence Hamm.
On the GOP side, Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner is seeking her party’s nomination.
Glassner said Murphy’s running “highlights the cronyism that has plagued New Jersey politics for decades.”
Murphy is the wife of current Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat elected for a second term in 2021.
