Former New Jersey State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff is exploring a 2024 U.S. Senate bid against Democrat Bob Menendez, potentially pitting a former member of Gov. Chris Christie’s cabinet up against a three-term incumbent facing possible corruption charges.
After a probe that has lasted roughly a year, the Justice Department is now considering possible charges against Menendez, the Wall Street Journal reported on August 25.
“I am interested,” Eristoff told the New Jersey Globe. “ I am in the very early stages of calling political leaders around the state to gauge the viability of mounting this campaign.”
Eristoff, 60, moved to Princeton in 2010 after Christie picked him as his State Treasurer, and he held the post until July 2015.
Before that, he was a significant figure in New York politics.
Eristoff was elected to the New York City Council in 1993 after Carolyn Maloney was elected to Congress. He served as New York City’s Finance Commissioner under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and then as Gov. George Pataki’s state Commissioner of Taxation and Finance.
He is among the donors to Christie’s 2024 presidential campaign and has been a vocal opponent of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. Eristoff contributed to the presidential campaigns of Christie, Pataki, and John Kasich before endorsing Gary Johnson, the former GOP governor of New Mexico who was running as the Libertarian candidate. He endorsed Joe Biden for president against Donald Trump in 2020.
In 2021, Eristoff became a major donor to Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign to unseat Gov. Phil Murphy, and has contributed to Republicans like Jay Webber and Mike Lawler.
Some Republican officials have confirmed that Eristoff is making calls.
“I’m going to continue to be in data collection mode,” he said. “I’ll continue to be helpful to Republican candidates across the state.:
New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972, when Clifford Case won his fourth term. Since then, 48 states have elected a Republican U.S. Senator; only Hawaii has gone longer.
When he ran for re-election in 2018, Menendez won by eleven percentage points against a candidate who spent $36 million of his own money just one year after facing corruption charges. In that race, Menendez set a record for the most votes ever received by a statewide candidate in a New Jersey midterm election.
A Monmouth University poll released earlier this month put Menendez’s job approval ratings at an upside-down 36%-45%. Nearly 60% of New Jerseyans say they know about the Menendez probe, which reportedly involves potential undisclosed gifts to Menendez and his wife.
But he also has $7.8 million in his campaign warchest.
Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University, views Eristoff, who has access to major GOP contributors, as a credible candidate against Menendez.
“Smart New Jersey Republicans figured out in 2021 that the only way to get close in a state where MAGA is a toxic electoral brand is to offer a mainstream, credible alternative,” Rasmussen said. “My old grad school professor Steve Salmore used to say that our electorate is stubbornly moderate, and if you want to know who will win a statewide race, look for which candidate comes across as more moderate.”
So far, three Republicans have entered the race to take on Menendez: Shirley Maia-Cusick, an immigration consultant from Hunterdon County; Daniel Cruz, a former Andover Regional School District Board of Education member; and Gregg Mele, a perennial candidate and the 2021 Libertarian candidate for governor. Some GOP county organizations require letters of intent to compete for party endorsements as early as January.
Menendez declined to comment on the possibility of a race against Eristoff.
“The senator isn’t going to comment every time someone explores running against him,” said Michael Soliman, his top political advisor. “But whomever the Republicans nominate, Senator Menendez will see them on the campaign trail and looks forward to watching them defend their party’s extremist agenda.”