Rep. Robert J. Menendez (D-Jersey City) and Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla will face off in the first debate in the already heated 2024 Democratic primary for Congress in New Jersey’s 8th district on Sunday, May 5 at 8 PM.
The 60-minute debate between Menendez and Bhalla is sponsored by the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, and the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University and will be streamed on the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, Facebook Live, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and YouTube.
Laura Jones, the host of “New Jersey Politics with Laura Jones,” a weekly public affairs show for MeTV-WJLP New Jersey/New York, will serve as the debate moderator. Panelists will include New Jersey Globe political reporter Joey Fox, New Jersey Globe editor David Wildstein, and Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute. Questions will also come from some members of the public.
Menendez, a former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was elected to Congress in 2022 after Albio Sires (D-West New York) retired after sixteen years in Washington. Bhalla served as a Hoboken councilman before winning a 2017 mayoral election; he was re-elected in 2021.
The 8th district is staunchly Democratic; under the boundaries of the current map, Joe Biden received 72% in 2020; Menendez received 73% two years ago. The Democratic primary is tantamount to election.
The first New Jersey Senate debate between Democrats Andy Kim and Tammy Murphy will take place on Sunday, February 18, at 8 PM.
The 90-minute debate is sponsored also by the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, and the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University and will be streamed on the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, Facebook Live, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and YouTube.