Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City)’s campaign for renomination in the 8th congressional district is up on the air with two new ads, one in English and the other in Spanish, highlighting the congressman’s work in Washington and advocacy for his constituents in New Jersey.
The two spots, Menendez’s first TV ads of the campaign cycle, will run on streaming and connected TV and are backed by just under $200,000 in spending.
“Rob Menendez does what he says – always fighting for what matters to us,” the narrator of the English-language spot says. “Taking on the toughest fights on the biggest issues; unafraid to go after the MAGA extremists; and getting things done. That’s how he’s built a reputation as a straight-talking leader. Rob does what he says, and he does it for us. That’s who Rob Menendez is.”
“Rob Menendez is our voice,” the Spanish-language spot says (translated here into English). “Rob is New Jersey’s only Hispanic congressman, and a leader in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. That’s why what matters to us, matters to Rob: strengthening health care and making it accessible to our community, and making life more affordable for working people. Rob Menendez is our congressman. He’s our voice.”
As the Spanish-language ad notes, a Menendez loss would likely mean that New Jersey would be without any Hispanic representation in Congress for the first time in decades – a potentially important factor for the majority-Hispanic electorate of the 8th district.
Menendez, a freshman Democrat first elected to Congress in 2022, will go up in next month’s Democratic primary against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who has used the indictment of Menendez’s father, Senator Bob Menendez, to make the 8th district race into a competitive and expensive affair. (A third Democratic candidate, Kyle Jasey, is also running.)
Both Bhalla and Menendez, who met for a New Jersey Globe debate last night, have raised more than a million dollars since the campaign began, and outside groups have also injected some money on their behalf. A Bhalla-supporting PAC called America’s Promise has spent $100,000 so far on an ad attacking Menendez, while the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has put in close to $150,000 to boost the congressman.