New Jersey GOP Chairman Bob Hugin has signed a petition filed by disgraced U.S. Senator Bob Menendez to run as an independent candidate in this year’s New Jersey U.S. Senate race.
The petition was published by NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin on X. Typically, signing a person’s political petition for office is an endorsement of that person to be on the ballot.
Hugin, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate after chairman across the state saw dollar signs from the independently wealthy politician, eventually made his way to become chairman of the New Jersey Republican Party.
His signature on Menendez’s petition signals one of two things. Hugin is the “RINO” many New Jersey Republicans say he is, or there’s a more sinister and political plot.
Bob Menendez is getting something from the GOP to run as a spoiler in the election, splitting Democrat votes for the Republicans. We wouldn’t put that past Menendez.
To feed into the conspiracy theories being generated over this news, it’s important to note that Hugin ran against Menendez in 2018. Rumors at the time circulated that most leaders in the New Jersey GOP realized Hugin had no real shot against Menendez, but that didn’t stop them from taking thousands of dollars in donations from Hugin for local campaigns.
Hugin dished out $39,000,000 in his losing campaign versus $13 million spent by Menendez.
Millions of dollars in cash were exchanging hands within the New Jersey GOP consultancies that year. These elections typically aren’t about winning and losing but to feed the system of the GOP and, sometimes, to keep the status quo for the GOP elites who do business with the New Jersey Democrats.
It also wouldn’t be far-fetched that Hugin would shell out money for Menendez knowing every vote Menendez gets is a vote taken away from Andy Kim, the Democrat candidate. The New Jersey GOP needs a hail Mary to defeat Kim, and a partnership between the NJ GOP, Gold Bar, and Chairman Bob Hugin could just be what certain county chairmen ordered.