{"id":2057415,"date":"2023-10-05T22:42:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T02:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-democrats-missed-chances-to-avoid-a-pair-of-2023-political-headaches\/"},"modified":"2023-10-05T22:45:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T02:45:28","slug":"senate-democrats-missed-chances-to-avoid-a-pair-of-2023-political-headaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-democrats-missed-chances-to-avoid-a-pair-of-2023-political-headaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Democrats missed opportunities to prevent two political headaches in 2023."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenate-democrats-missed-chances-to-avoid-a-pair-of-2023-political-headaches%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2057415&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>&#8220;We&#8217;re \u200bgoing\u2062 to Jersey?&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Michael Corleone had played it mostly cool on the drive to the famous sit-down\u200d massacre scene in The Godfather. However, his mask slips \u200dbriefly when the car threatens to \u2063head south to New York&#8217;s neighboring state, New Jersey.<\/p>\n<h3>Biden Has Yet to Join Democratic Calls for Sen. Menendez of New Jersey to Resign<\/h3>\n<p>Many national\u2062 Democrats are surely\u200d feeling that same irritation looking at\u2064 their 2024 prospects in the Garden State today. What political handicappers\u200c would have considered a\u2062 sure thing is now up in the air, and Democrats \u200dwill have to spend national money holding a must-hold seat. That is if\u2062 Sen. Robert \u2063Menendez (D-NJ) wins renomination, as \u200dhe faces a 2024 Senate \u200dDemocratic primary challenge in New Jersey from Rep. Andy Kim\u2062 (D-NJ), who \u2062represents the outer Philadelphia suburbs 3rd Congressional District.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic concerns over having to spend time and resources in New Jersey next year rose when Menendez, \u2064the state&#8217;s senior senator in Congress, was indicted, along with his wife, Nadine Arslanian, in late September.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Between 2018 and 2022, Senator Menendez and his wife engaged in a\u2063 corrupt relationship with Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, \u2062and Fred Daibes \u2014 three New\u200d Jersey businessmen who collectively\u200b paid hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, including cash, gold, a Mercedes Benz, and other things\u200d of value \u2014 in exchange for Senator Menendez agreeing to use his power \u2064and influence to protect and enrich those businessmen and to benefit the Government of Egypt,&#8221; U.S. Attorney \u2062Damian Williams charged in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Menendez was in the position to allegedly benefit Egypt&#8217;s government because he was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time Menendez has faced prosecution. A previous\u200d corruption trial \u200dresulted in a hung jury.<\/p>\n<p>In April 2018,\u2062 the Senate Ethics Committee &#8220;severely admonished&#8221; Menendez for violating &#8220;Senate Rules, federal \u2062law, and applicable standards of conduct&#8221; for accepting many gifts and trips from Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor who was convicted of $73 million \u2064in Medicare fraud, and acting as his agent. (President Donald Trump commuted \u2064Melgen&#8217;s\u2062 17-year sentence in 2021 with his final\u200d raft of pardons and commutations.)<\/p>\n<p>Despite the trial and the senatorial tongue-lashing, \u2064however, most \u200cDemocrats did not stand in Menendez&#8217;s way when he ran for reelection in\u200c 2018 and\u2062 won with 54% of the vote. Now whoever the\u2064 candidate is who runs for Menendez&#8217;s \u200cseat \u2014 and Menendez is moving ahead with reelection \u2014 could face a\u200c more hostile electorate. The state&#8217;s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, narrowly won reelection in 2021 with only 51.2% of \u2062the vote, and longtime Democratic state Senate President Steve Sweeney lost reelection to a \u2062Republican truck driver who spent $2,300.<\/p>\n<p>Also in\u200b 2018, \u200bDemocrats faced a \u200bdifferent dilemma with the reelection campaign of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The California senator was \u200cin her mid-80s and had held \u200bthe seat\u200c since 1992. When\u200b she didn&#8217;t step down, the state party did not endorse\u2064 her but \u200boffered only token opposition. She won reelection with 54% of the vote, a shockingly low showing by\u200c a Democrat in a\u200d statewide California election.<\/p>\n<p>Feinstein had been the mayor of San Francisco and a lion of Golden State politics,\u2063 a trailblazer in women&#8217;s politics in\u200c the state. She also moved a lot of legislation, from an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-lacks-clear-legislative-strategy-after-democrats-achieve-senate-majority\/\" title=\"Biden Lacks Clear Legislative Strategy After Democrats Achieve Senate Majority\">assault-style weapons ban<\/a> in the 1990s\u200c to fuel economy standards of the early 2000s to the introduction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-democrats-missed-chances-to-avoid-a-pair-of-2023-political-headaches\/\" title=\"Senate Democrats missed opportunities to prevent two political headaches in 2023.\">breast cancer research-funding postage stamps<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Feinstein&#8217;s final years in office were not, by most observations,\u2064 happy ones. Feinstein picked a fight in 2017 with now Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, then a federal appeals court nominee, by saying she couldn&#8217;t support her \u2064because &#8220;the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/remember-when-media-freaked-out-over-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-right-wing-supreme-court\/\" title=\"Remember When Media Freaked Out Over Amy Coney Barrett And The Right Wing Supreme Court?\">dogma lives loudly<\/a> within you,&#8221; drawing charges\u200c of anti-Catholic bigotry.<\/p>\n<p>Then when Trump nominated Barrett to the Supreme Court, at the end of confirmation hearings, Feinstein hugged Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying,\u200c &#8220;This has been \u200bone of the best \u2063set of hearings that I&#8217;ve participated in.&#8221; The episode enraged many Democrats and renewed\u2063 calls for Feinstein to resign.<\/p>\n<p>The senator in recent years developed memory problems, which were widely reported on and distracted from the Senate Democratic policy agenda, particularly after the party won the majority in a pair of January 2021 Georgia special \u200belections.<\/p>\n<p>Feinstein fell\u200d in August, was hospitalized, and\u2062 died on Sept. 29. She was 90.<\/p>\n<p>CLICK \u2063HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE \u2064WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/p>\n<p>National Democrats chose\u200d to back both candidates,\u200b and it seemed to pay off in 2018. \u2062Feinstein and Menendez secured their seats for at least a majority of their next terms.<\/p>\n<p>And there \u2063was nothing Senate Democrats could have done to force either\u200c senator from seeking reelection. But they\u2062 could have tried. As many a \u2063pol\u200d has come\u200c to lament, reelection does \u2063not magically make your problems disappear.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How might\u200c the\u2064 national Democratic Party&#8217;s investment in defending a previously\u200d safe seat in New \u200bJersey affect\u200b other \u2064competitive\u200b races across the country?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Support to any other Democrat who challenged her in the primary. In the end, Feinstein\u2063 won the primary with\u200b 54% of the vote, \u200dbut the close contest\u2064 revealed some dissatisfaction among the Democratic base.<\/p>\n<p>In \u2064the case of\u2063 Menendez, it \u200bremains to be seen if the Democratic Party will take a similar approach. So far, President\u200c Joe Biden has \u2063not joined the calls for \u200bMenendez to resign. This could be \u200da \u2062strategic move \u2064to avoid further\u2062 division within the party or a signal that \u200dthe allegations against Menendez are not viewed as severe enough to warrant his removal from office.<\/p>\n<p>However, if\u2062 Menendez does face a primary challenge from \u200cRep. Andy Kim, it could be a test of the Democratic Party&#8217;s commitment\u200c to accountability and\u2062 ethics. Kim, a \u200crising \u200bstar within the party, represents a younger and\u2063 more progressive wing that could view Menendez&#8217;s alleged \u200dcorruption as disqualifying.<\/p>\n<p>For the national \u2064Democratic Party, the situation in New Jersey is not ideal. The party will have to invest time and \u2062resources in \u2063defending a seat that was previously considered safe.\u2064 This could divert\u200b attention and funding away from\u2064 other competitive races across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, losing a Senate seat in a state that has traditionally been solidly \u2063blue would be a significant blow for Democrats. \u2062It could signal a broader trend of voter discontent and dissatisfaction with the party, which could have consequences in future elections.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the decision \u2063of whether Menendez should resign or face\u2064 a primary challenge lies with the voters of \u2062New \u200cJersey. They will have the opportunity to voice their opinions and hold \u200btheir elected officials \u200baccountable.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, national Democrats will have to navigate \u2063the delicate balance \u2062of supporting their party \u200bwhile also upholding their commitment to integrity and transparency. The \u200doutcome of the upcoming primary will reveal\u200c much about \u200bthe state of \u2062the Democratic Party and its ability to address misconduct within its ranks.<\/p>\n<p>As\u2063 Michael Corleone famously said,\u2063 &#8220;We&#8217;re going\u200b to \u200cJersey?&#8221; It seems that \u200cfor Democrats, the answer is yes, and they will have to navigate the complexities and challenges that come with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Corleone&#8217;s composure wavered as the car veered towards New Jersey during the infamous sit-down massacre in The Godfather. Similarly, President Biden has not yet aligned with fellow Democrats in urging Senator Menendez of New Jersey to take action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2057416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2057415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2057416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}