Curtis Bashaw, New Jersey Republican candidate for US Senate, today issued the following statement regarding Senator Menendez’s resignation:

“It comes as a relief to our state that Senator Menendez is announcing his resignation, saving New Jersey the embarrassment of a drawn-out expulsion process.  After being convicted of selling out our country to the Egyptian government, his presence in the US Senate presents a national security risk to our country.

“As Governor Murphy moves to appoint a replacement to his seat, I once again call on him to let voters make the ultimate decision of who should hold this seat in November’s election. The Governor should appoint a caretaker to this seat, as is the long-standing New Jersey tradition, and not give either candidate the advantage of incumbency in this election.

“Furthermore, it’s beyond hypocritical that Andy Kim–who railed against back room deals as the focus of his primary campaign–is now asking Governor Murphy for a back room deal to be appointed to this Senate seat, on top of supporting a back room deal to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris.

“As this sordid scandal comes to a close, voters deserve to have confidence that they’ll have the ultimate say in this election — not the Democrat Party bosses who enabled almost two decades of Menendez’s corruption.”