Rob Menendez
Rob Menendez, a Democrat who has represented New Jersey's 8th congressional district since 2023, seeks re-election in 2026 against independent Aristotle Eliopoulos and Socialist Workers Party candidate Craig Honts.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Rob Menendez.
- Born
- July 12, 1985
- Birthplace
- Englewood, New Jersey
- Education
- The Hudson School (2003)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Bachelor of Arts in political science)
Rutgers Law School (Juris Doctor)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Rob Menendez was born on July 12, 1985, in Englewood, New Jersey, and raised in Union City. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and Jane Jacobsen, a public school teacher, school nurse and guidance counselor, and he is Cuban-American through his father.
After attending Union City public schools through eighth grade, he graduated in 2003 from The Hudson School, a private school in Hoboken.
He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School, where he was president of the Student Bar Association.
Career
Rob Menendez worked as a lawyer with Lowenstein Sandler LLP. Governor Phil Murphy nominated him in April 2021 as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and he served from June 4, 2021, to January 2, 2023, chairing the Governance and Ethics Committee.
When Representative Albio Sires announced his retirement, Menendez ran for the 8th district in 2022, winning the primary with 83.6% and defeating Republican Marcos Arroyo 73.6% to 23.4%.
In 2024 he won the Democratic primary with 52.0% against Ravinder Bhalla and Kyle Jasey and defeated Republican Anthony Valdes.
In his second term Menendez won a seat on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and he serves as vice chair for the northeast of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and as vice chair of policy for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. On May 9, 2025, he took part in an oversight visit to the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark with Representatives LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
2026 race
Rob Menendez is seeking re-election in New Jersey's 8th congressional district, a majority Hispanic seat that contains Elizabeth, Hoboken and Union City along with parts of Newark and Jersey City, and which he won with 59.2% of the vote in 2024.
In the 2026 Democratic primary he defeated Mussab Ali, a former president of the Jersey City Board of Education and 2025 candidate for mayor of Jersey City, with 68.8% of the vote.
The Republican primary had no candidates after the March 23, 2026, filing deadline, so the general election on November 3, 2026, pits Menendez against independent Aristotle Eliopoulos, a teacher, and Socialist Workers Party candidate Craig Honts, a 2025 nominee for lieutenant governor of New Jersey.