With a new Senate duo representing N.J., here’s the history of relationships between senior and junior

New Jersey has a long history of toxic relationships between its two United States Senators, but Cory Booker seems to get along with everyone, and there’s a decent chance that the sugary relationships he’s had with both of his fellow senators will extend this to his newest colleague, Andy Kim.

The friendship between Booker and Kim’s immediate predecessor, George Helmy, was easy: Helmy had served as Booker’s state director before leaving in 2019 to become chief of staff to Gov. Phil Murphy.

Booker and Bob Menendez got along nicely since Booker arrived in Washington in late 2013, and their relationship expanded exponentially during Menendez’s legal battles; he accompanied Menendez in court and testified on his behalf during his 2017 bribery trial, cementing a strong bond between the two.  When Menendez sought re-election in 2018, Booker aggressively campaigned on his behalf.

When Booker announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, Menendez quickly endorsed him.

But that kind of sugary bromance is not how it usually works in New Jersey.

Menendez and Frank Lautenberg didn’t get along. They bickered over some federal appointments – Lautenberg thought he should get them all, and Menendez believed he was entitled to a crumb or two.

The feud between Lautenberg and Bob Torricelli was legendary.  The classic story is the time Torricelli lost it at a Senate Democratic caucus meeting and told Lautenberg, “I’m going to cut your balls off.”  That was the public statement – you can be sure what was said privately was much worse.

Lautenberg and Bill Bradley didn’t particularly like each other – Lautenberg was jealous of Bradley’s “luster” – those were his words, not mine.

Bradley got along with Harrison Williams until he didn’t: Williams, who had remained in the U.S. Senate despite his conviction in the Abscam scandal, resigned the day after Bradley announced that he would vote to expel him.

Torricelli got along fine with Jon Corzine, whom he helped recruit to run in 2000 following Lautenberg’s retirement, partly because he didn’t want Jim Florio as the nominee. Corzine was part of the group that picked the replacement candidate when Torricelli withdrew in 2002, and Lautenberg was their fifth choice.  He largely avoided Lautenberg during their three-year overlap; Lautenberg didn’t particularly enjoy returning as the junior senator.

(The one Corzine had trouble getting along with was Chuck Schumer.  At a roast, Corzine said: “Sharing a media market with Chuck Schumer is like sharing a banana with a monkey . . . take a little bite of it and he will throw his own feces at you.” Schumer was not amused.)

The last time the two U.S. Senators from New Jersey had a strong working relationship—not including caretakers Nicholas Brady and Jeff Chiesa—was forty years ago.

Williams, a Democrat, and Clifford Case, a Republican, served together for twenty years.  They forged what was considered a decent working relationship, acknowledging that federal patronage went through the Senator whose party won the White House.  They weren’t too dissimilar ideologically, and neither attacked the other – even during political campaigns.

The alliance between the two ended in September 2023 after the indictment against Menendez was unsealed; Booker was among a large group of New Jersey Democrats who urged Menendez to resign.  After a jury convicted the three-term senator on bribery and conspiracy charges in July, Booker said if Menendez didn’t step down, he would lead the effort to expel him.