Bob Menendez in full, Robert Menendez is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2006.
A member of the Democratic Party, he was first appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor Jon Corzine, and chaired the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 2013 to 2015, and again from 2021 to 2023.
In 1974, at the age of 20, Menendez was elected to the Union City School District’s Board of Education. He received degrees from Saint Peter’s University and Rutgers Law School. In 1986, he was elected mayor of Union City.
In 1988, while continuing to serve as mayor, he was elected to represent the state’s 33rd district in the New Jersey General Assembly and, within three years, moved to the New Jersey Senate, upon winning the March 1991 special election for the 33rd Senate district.
The next year, Menendez won a seat in the House of Representatives and represented New Jersey’s 13th congressional district for six two-year terms, from 1993 to 2006.
In January 2006, he was appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jon Corzine (who had been elected governor of New Jersey), and was elected to a full six-year term in November; he was reelected in 2012 and 2018.
In 2015, Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges; the jury was unable to reach a verdict, and the charges were dropped in 2018.
In April 2018, the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics “severely admonished” Menendez for accepting gifts from donor Salomon Melgen without obtaining committee approval, for failing to disclose certain gifts, and for using his position as a senator to advance Melgen’s interests.
In September 2023, Menendez was again indicted on federal corruption charges that he aided and provided sensitive information to the government of Egypt.
He stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but refused to resign from the Senate and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, despite calls to resign from numerous state and congressional Democrats, including 30 of his Senate colleagues.
Who is Robert Menendez?
Bob Menendez, in full Robert Menendez, was born on January 1, 1954, in New York City to Cuban immigrants who had left Cuba a few months earlier, in 1953.
His father, Mario Menéndez, was a carpenter, and his mother, Evangelina, was a seamstress. The family subsequently moved to New Jersey, where he grew up in an apartment in Union City.
He attended Union Hill High School, where his speech teacher, Gail Harper, helped him develop as a public speaker. Menendez has said, “My mother and Miss Harper made me understand the power of education, what it means to put a premium on learning and working hard.”
While at Union Hill, Menendez became the student body president. He went on to become the first in his family to go to college, attending Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City, where he became a member of the Lambda Theta Phi fraternity.
He graduated with a B.A. in political science, and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers Law School in 1979 at the Newark campus. Menendez was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1980 and became a lawyer in private practice.
About Bob Menendez wife
Bob Menendez is married to businesswoman Nadine Arslanian.
About Bob Menendez marriage
He got engaged to Nadine in 2019 and married her in October 2020. Before meeting Nadine, Sen. Bob Menendez was married in 1976 to Jane Jacobsen; a teacher for the Union City Board of Education and Union City Public Schools.
About Bob Menendez children
Bob Menendez has two children from a previous relationship, daughter Alicia Menendez, and son Rob Menendez.
FAQs
Who is Nadine Arslanian?
Nadine Arslanian is the wife of Sen. Bob Menendez. The couple in a recent report by CNN have been charged with corruption-related offences.
In a report by the New York Times, the pair met in 2018 at an IHOP in Union City. The following year October, Bob Menendez got engaged to Nadina in India.
In 2020, Bob Menendez and Nadina got married in Queen in a beautiful wedding ceremony. At the moment, the couple don’t have kids together.
Nadine Menendez was born in Lebanon to Armenian parents who fled the Lebanese Civil War. They moved to the United States of America when she was a child and settled in New York.
She has a master’s degree in French from New York University.
Who is Alicia Jacobsen Menendez?
Alicia Jacobsen Menendez is the first child and daughter of New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Jane Menendez.
She is an American television commentator, host and writer. She is the author of the book The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed as You Are (2019).
Alicia was born on 2nd July 1983 in Union City, New Jersey. She spent her formative years in New Jersey.
In 2005, Alicia Menendez graduated from Harvard College. She went to Harvard University to have her tertiary education.
Her thesis on women’s social capital drew the attention of U.S. News & World Report and The New York Times.
In 2015, she married Carlos Prío Odio in Coral Gables.
Who is Robert Jacobsen Menendez?
Robert Jacobsen Menendez is the second child and first son of Sen. Robert Menendez and Jane Jacobsen Menendez.
He is an American lawyer and politician. Robert Jacobsen Menendez has served as the Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
He was born on 12th July 1985 in Union City, New Jersey. He had his formative years in New Jersey.
Robert attended Union City Public Schools and the Hudson School. He had his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina.
Menendez resides in Jersey City, New Jersey. He married Alex Banfich Menendez in 2017. They have two children.
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