Bob Menendez

Who is Bob Menendez?

Robert "Bob" Menendez is the senior United States Senator from New Jersey. He is a member of the Democratic party. First appointed to the Senate in January 2006, he was elected Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in January 2013.

In 1974, at the age of 20, he was elected to the Union City Board of Education and, 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 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. In 1992, he won a seat in Congress and represented New Jersey's 13th congressional district for six terms, from 1993 to 2006. In January 2006, he was appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jon Corzine, and was elected to a full six-year term in November and re-elected in 2012.

Menendez is one of three Latinos in the Senate; the others — also Americans of Cuban ancestry — are Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas.