Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. projected to defeat Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla for New Jersey's 8th Congressional District
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- CBS News projects that Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., son of indicted Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, has defeated Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla in New Jersey's 8th Congressional District race.
With 71% of votes counted, Menendez Jr. was defeating Bhalla by a margin of 54% to 34%. The latest numbers can be found on CBS New York's results page.
Menendez Jr. swept to an easy victory after a very hard-fought primary race.
He had squared off against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.
Bhalla tried to link Menendez Jr. to his scandal-scarred father, Sen. Bob Menendez, who is on trial for corruption charges, and Menendez Jr. hit back at Bhalla's ethics issues, including that he once lost his law license in New York for a period of time.
Despite a sometimes bitter campaign of accusations on both sides, Menendez Jr. will be on the Democratic ballot in November.
Both candidates spoke out Tuesday night.
"When you look at the success that we had tonight, it's because look at this room. We built a coalition that could withstand some of the most vile things that could be thrown at a candidate. We didn't just deal with ads, we dealt with straight up lies. We dealt with whatever you can throw at someone and we withstood it all, and we are here tonight victorious," Menendez Jr. said.
"I'm very, very proud of everybody in this room because we shook up the system through this election," Bhalla said. "This is part of a larger movement for change, a larger movement to uplift people, a larger movement to get people who don't have a voice."
Menendez Jr. says the fight will continue.
The 8th Congressional District is a blue district where the Democrat has a strong edge in November.
In the Senate primary, Democrat Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw are the projected winners.
