the state is in the midst of another old-fashioned political slugfest with the first punch thrown by Jersey City's mayor and gubinatorial candidate Steve Fulop saying unequivocally this week Congressman Rob Menendez Jr should be dumped from his seat because of his father embattled senior US senator Bob menendez's criminal charges the harsh statement came after the powerful Hudson County Democratic organization this week endorsed Menendez Jr in his 2024 reelection bid and Unleashed a war of words between Fulop, Menendez and their supporters senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the story the Menendez have shown that they feel entitled to the seats and they put the menendez's first and that's ultimately what the problem is Jersey city mayor Steve Fulop fired the first Salva online tweeting I'm not on board with supporting Rob Menendez for another term in Congress it's time to move on Menendez represents Jersey's eighth District in Hudson County's Democratic stronghold he's also the son of indicted Senator Bob Menendez who's accused of wielding his political influence in return for piles of cash and gold bars Fulop claims Rob Menendez should denounce his own father or forfeit his seat did you really expect the son to condemn the the father Yes yes I think that if you are elected and working on behalf of your residents the expectation is you will do right by your residents the disqualifier is the fact that you've put your family interest in front of the public interests Rob Menendez has been mostly silent about his father's indictment the Senators furiously denied the charges and refused to resign despite calls to step down from colleagues including Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman who hired expelled Congressman George Santos for 250 bucks to record this snarky Cameo message to the senator hey Bobby uh look I don't think I need to tell you but these people that want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away you make him put up or shut up Fulop's now accusing the younger Menendez of benefiting from his family connection while ducking the consequences of his family Scandal but Rob Menendez lobbed this statement back at Fulop who's running for governor in 2025 he showed his true colors yesterday for everyone to see instead of addressing his policy failures and the impact they've had on Jersey City residents Steve chose to go low for those of us who have dealt with Steve it's nothing new for those across the state who he is looking to introduce himself to you can expect more of this petulant behavior and he says Fulop Administration has seen its own scandals but timing is everything here Congressman Menendez endorsed by Hudson County's Democratic organization faces reelection next year this is not a battle that he needs right now now he needs to keep his head down he needs to do the work of serving his constituents he needs to try to keep some distance between himself and his father's problems which is clearly not what mayor Fulop wants to let him do riters mik rasmas says there's no denying the Bad Blood between Bob Menendez and Fulop who challenged him in a 2004 election and lost but Fulop's assertion that Rob Menendez is basically a nepo baby who won his seat because of Dad's influence did evoke a backlash folks cited Fulop's support for Tammy Murphy who won instant endorsements from her husband's formidable political allies as she seeks Senator menendez's seat you're talking about a front-loaded campaign essentially that's that's relying heavily on the family influence and that applies as much to Tammy Murphy as it does to Rob Menendez yeah and and there certainly is kind of a ground swell of opposition that you see and and I think they are questioning that relationship and that's fair for them to do and if she takes the approach of just solely defending uh the governor in situations I think she's going to open herself up to criticism the headbutting will continue as for the Menendez family Politics the Senator's trial is scheduled to start May 6th he adamantly refuses to resign and hasn't said whether he'll seek reelection but his son will certainly be on the New Jersey primary ballot June 4th I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News [Music]