Rep. Rob Menendez in primary fight with challenger Mussab Ali

As Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez seeks a third term representing New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District, he faces a primary challenge from a Jersey City progressive who is betting voter frustration with the Democratic establishment can help him topple the incumbent.

Mussab Ali, a former president of the Jersey City Board of Education, argues that Menendez is a corporate Democrat out of step with this district that includes parts of Hudson County and Newark, plus Elizabeth. Ali is running on a platform that includes supporting Medicare for All, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and banning military aid to Israel.

“I looked at the issues, and I looked at our member of Congress, and I said, ‘I think we need someone who’s going to do more,’” Ali said.

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Menendez, who has support from labor unions and powerful elected officials, brushed off the challenge during an interview. He called Ali a “perennial candidate” who “will say and do anything” to win office. Ali lost the Jersey City mayor’s race last year.

“He has no record to run on, and he’s running against someone who’s really put the time and effort in his three years in office to deliver for the district,” said Menendez, who won his first term in 2022.

The primary is June 2. The winner of the Democratic primary will not face a GOP candidate in November, because no Republican filed to run in this largely Democratic district. Menendez captured 60% of the vote when he won reelection in November 2024.

Ali’s arguments that Menendez is too moderate for the district include that Menendez has shifted his position on ICE — Menendez once said he wanted to reform ICE, and now says it should be abolished — and Menendez’s lack of outward support for universal healthcare. Menendez is not a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All bill introduced last year.

But Ali said the most “striking” difference between the two centers around Menendez’s support for military aid to Israel amid the war in Gaza and the campaign donations Menendez has received from pro-Israel lobbyists (Ali has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide).

“That to me is an indictment of somebody who is not progressive like this district,” Ali said. “It’s someone who’s kind of like, ‘Look, I’m an establishment Democrat who sort of hides behind the party label,’ and that he enjoys universal name ID in the district.”

According to Open Secrets, Menendez has accepted $325,668 from pro-Israel PACs from 2022 to 2024.

While the congressman acknowledged the “erosion” in voters’ trust in the U.S.-Israel relationship — placing some of the blame on Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — Menendez stopped short of calling for a ban on military aid to Israel. He said he’s been against the war in Iran since it started, and suggested Ali wants to “distort my record on the Middle East.”

“Our record is much different than he wants to portray it as. We’re going to continue to look at every piece of legislation and opportunity on a case-by-case basis,” Menendez said.

Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said he thinks that, although Ali is further to the left than Menendez, Menendez has built goodwill with progressives in Hudson County. Rasmussen noted that when Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) and then Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10) were charged with crimes tied to their opposition to the Delaney Hall migrant jail in Newark, Menendez was by their side.

“He was there from day one with Baraka and McIver,” Rasmussen said.  “If we do see that he’s stepping any more to the left, that would be an indication that he’s sweating it, and we’re not seeing that at this moment.”

The race between Menendez and Ali is unfolding just weeks after progressive organizer Rep. Analilia Mejia (D) won a special election to the House in the neighboring 11th District. Mejia scored a major upset when she won the special primary against 10 other Democrats, many seen as more moderate than she is.

Rasmussen said Mejia’s win could offer a potential blueprint for Ali and other progressive candidates around the state. But he noted that Menendez is well-situated, with key support from Hudson County’s Democratic Party. Menendez also has a massive fundraising advantage, with a war chest that includes more than $1 million, while Ali is sitting on less than $100,000, per their most recent campaign finance records.

“It’s not that Menendez isn’t facing a stiff challenge or isn’t at risk. It’s just that he’s doing everything that he needs to be to address it, to be ready for the challenge,” Rasmussen said. “One of the ways you beat an incumbent is usually by catching them off guard, and Menendez is not being caught off guard this year.”