The Jersey Journal has endorsed Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla over Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) in the Democratic primary for the 8th congressional district, potentially giving the mayor a last-minute boost before primary day next Tuesday.
As the editorial notes, both candidates have similar policy positions and have done respectable work in their current positions: Bhalla as the mayor of Hoboken since 2018, Menendez as the congressman for the Hudson County-based 8th district since 2023. But the editorial board takes issue with how Menendez got to office in the first place, utilizing the power of his father, Senator Bob Menendez, to clear the field and win an open seat with minimal opposition.
“While two other Democrats were on the ballot in the June 2022 primary, their campaigns withered next to that of a political scion with an overflowing warchest and endorsements to match,” the editorial board wrote. “Realistically, the voters had no choice and comparisons to a coronation instead of an election were on the money.”
Whatever Menendez’s accomplishments, and whatever Bhalla’s flaws, the board decided that electing Bhalla would give Hudson County the real, earned representation that they said it currently lacks.
“[Menendez] didn’t earn his position in Congress, a position of authority and respect that is cheapened by the game of musical chairs Hudson Democrats orchestrated to waltz him in,” the board wrote. “As a freshman in the minority party on the Hill, Menendez has undoubtedly done as well as he could, but voters have an opportunity now to correct the wrong that was done to them two years ago.”
The editorial chastises both candidates, however, for their attack ads against one another. Menendez’s ads hit Bhalla over his ethics issues as an attorney, attacks which the board said are “vehemently overstated and reek of desperation”; Bhalla’s efforts to tie Menendez to his father’s federal bribery indictment “likewise reek.”
A third Democratic candidate, Kyle Jasey, is also running in the majority-Hispanic, safely blue 8th district, but he only merits a passing mention in the editorial.
The endorsement is undoubtedly a good get for Bhalla; the Jersey Journal, part of the NJ Advance Media network, has been publishing since 1867 and still holds sway for some Hudson County voters.
But given the timing of the editorial, and given that it’s protected behind an online paywall, it may be hard for it to have as much impact as it otherwise might. With only five days to go until Election Day, Bhalla likely won’t have enough time to promote the endorsement via his own mailers and ads – and nearly 8,000 voters have already cast their ballots by mail.