Robert Menendez (born January 1, 1954) is the senior United States Senator from the State of New Jersey. He is a member of the Democratic Party of the United States. First appointed to the U.S. Senate
in January 2006, he was later elected Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in January 2013.
In 1974, at the age of 20, he was first elected to the Union City School District's Board of Education. In 1986, won the election for Mayor of Union City. In 1988, while continuing to serve as mayor, he was elected to
represent the state's 33rd district in the General Assembly of New Jersey and, within three years, moved to the New Jersey State Senate, upon winning the March 1991 special election for the 33rd Senate district. The
next year he won a seat in the Congress of the United States for 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 54th Governor of New Jersey), and was elected to a full six-year term in November and re-elected following in 2012.
Menendez is one of four Latinos in the Senate. In 2015, he was ranked #1 on The Hudson Reporter's annual Power List of the "Fifty Most Powerful Political Figures in Hudson County".[2]
On April 1, 2015, Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges in the United States District Court, related to alleged favors he did for Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen and gifts he received from
him, including campaign donations and private flights. Melgen was charged as well. Menendez has pleaded not guilty to all charges.[3]
