Larry Hamm will make second bid for U.S. Senate

Larry Hamm, a progressive activist who challenged Senator Cory Booker in the 2020 Democratic primary, will run for the U.S. Senate once again in 2024. Hamm filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, and confirmed to the New Jersey Globe today that he is running.

“Yes, I am planning to run for the United States Senate in 2024,” Hamm said.

That, in theory, sets him on a collision course with incumbent Senator Bob Menendez, who was indicted on federal bribery charges on Friday. But given the extremely fast developments in that race – Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) has already announced a primary challenge, and more candidates could be waiting in the wings – it will be tough for  Hamm to establish himself as a top contender.

Hamm, the founder of the People’s Organization for Progress, first ran for office in 1987 as an independent candidate for the State Assembly in the Newark-based 28th legislative district. In 2020, he was named chair of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign in New Jersey; Sanders ultimately dropped out long before the New Jersey primary, but Hamm forged ahead with his own longshot Senate campaign against Booker.

There wasn’t much appetite among New Jerseyans for unseating Booker, though, and Hamm struggled to fundraise or pull major endorsements. The final results spoke for themselves: Booker got 88% of the vote to Hamm’s 12%.

It remains to be seen whether this time will go differently for Hamm, a Montclair resident. The race is still in its very early stages, with one of the biggest questions being whether Menendez will in fact run again; the senator would have little party support if he did so, but he’s sounded defiant thus far.

“It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat,” Menendez said in a statement on Friday evening. “I am not going anywhere.”