Sen. Bob Menendez's corruption trial looms over New Jersey primary day

Sen. Bob Menendez isn’t on the New Jersey primary ballot, but his bribery and corruption trial may be the most important factor in shaping Tuesday’s key contests in the state.

Five states — New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, Iowa and South Dakota — are holding primaries on Tuesday. Most of the attention will be on the Garden State, where Menendez’s legal woes have shaken up the race for his own Senate seat and put his son, Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez, in a competitive primary.

The younger Menendez is facing a hotly contested House primary against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla as he runs for a second term in the deep-blue 8th District in the northern part of the state, which includes parts of Newark and Jersey City. Bhalla has sought to tie Rob Menendez to his father, who has been charged with 18 counts of bribery and corruption. The senator has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

Bhalla has outraised and outspent Rob Menendez in the race, and he’s received some help from an outside group called America’s Promise PAC. The group launched a TV ad linking Rob Menendez to his father’s trial, with a narrator saying: “They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. So it’s no wonder that Rob Menendez is defending his father’s corruption,” later added that the congressman is “rotten to the core.” (Rob Menendez has not been accused of any impropriety.)

Rob Menendez, meanwhile, has had a boost from BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Protect Progress, a group tied to the cryptocurrency industry. One BOLD PAC TV ad touted his work to lower drug costs and protect Medicare and Social Security, with a narrator saying that the two-term congressman is “working every day to lower costs and