Van Drew gives himself until January to decide on U.S. Senate campaign

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), who has been mulling a potential U.S. Senate campaign since incumbent Senator Bob Menendez was indicted in September, said today that he plans to make up his mind on whether to run by January.

“I still am [considering it],” Van Drew told the New Jersey Globe. “I’d say that by January, I’ll make a decision. Because if I do it, I’ve got to get going by then, and if I don’t do it, then somebody else has got to get going.”

Van Drew first floated himself as a possible Senate contender just a few days after Menendez was indicted; he later put his money where his mouth was and funded a statewide digital ad blitz promoting his potential candidacy. Still, it would be something of a surprise if Van Drew gave up his solidly Republican House seat for an uphill Senate campaign.

One prominent Republican, Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, is already in the Senate race. She’s gotten endorsements from a number of Republicans in Morris County and its surrounding areas – including Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), Van Drew’s colleague in the House.

Van Drew said that regardless of who ends up being the GOP nominee, he believes that Menendez’s bombshell indictment gives Republicans their best chance of winning a New Jersey Senate seat in a long time.

“It is a unique time in history, and a unique opportunity for someone,” Van Drew said. “It’s been over a half century since we’ve had a Republican in there, but … I think people, finally, maybe have had enough. We’ll see.”

Menendez, though, is quite unlikely to be the Democratic Senate nominee next year even if he does run again. Polling shows the senator to be wildly unpopular, even among Democrats, and one primary challenger, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), is already in the race; First Lady Tammy Murphy is preparing to run as well.