I feel like I need to address the elephant in the middle of the room for a moment. I know there are some that are having difficulty voting for Senator Menendez. I get it, I really do. However, there is no alternative! His opponent is a rubber stamp for the Trump Administration. There is a small path to victory to win the Senate, but there is no conceivable way we get to even think about flipping the Senate without saving Senator Menendez’s seat. But most importantly his policies directly align with who WE are as a people. We remain a community that is invested in doing what is right for our citizens of New Jersey. And Senator Menendez has always been a champion for us.

The following is just some of the ways Senator Menendez is fighting for all of us!

Healthcare and The Affordable Care Act

Senator Menendez has been a fierce defender of affordable quality healthcare in New Jersey. He co-authored the Affordable Care Act in the Finance Committee during the Obama Administration. He supports a public option, women's health coverage, and affordable health care options.

The Environment and Climate Change

Senator Menendez has consistently supported the Clean Power Plan, advocated for the US to remain in the Paris Climate Accords, and as the Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee he is very aware of the national security implications of climate change. (ATNJ 2018) Senator Menendez has been a fighter on protecting our coast from offshore drilling, protecting green spaces, and cleaning Superfund sites by making polluters pay. Did you notice how blue and clean our oceans were this summer at our beaches? Senator Menendez is determined to protect our coastline.

Seniors

We all know Republicans are looking to raid Social Security and Medicare to pay for their tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.  Senator Menendez has always fought back against Republican efforts to privatize Social Security, saddle seniors with higher prescription drug costs, and turn Medicare into a cheap voucher program. He helped defeat the Trump Administration's efforts to turn Medicaid into a block grant program, which would have left the disabled and elderly out in the homeless and without medical treatment.

Family Medical Leave Act

Senator Menendez has co-sponsored the Healthy Families Act, which requires that employers allow workers to earn paid sick time. He believes that all employees shouldn’t be punished for getting sick by not getting paid.

Immigration

Senator Menendez has devoted his entire political career fighting to protect immigrants. As the son of Cuban immigrants, he is personally aware of the struggle. A group of Westfield 20/20 members left their families and drove to Washington D.C. to meet with the Senator. He was just as outraged as we were on the separation of children from their families and made an impassioned speech on the floor of the Senate releasing the tape of the cries of the children incarcerated despite the opposition’s insistence that he not play the tape on the floor. He is ferociously fighting to end the crisis at the U.S. border caused by its zero tolerance policy separating immigrant families. Senator Menendez has consistently fought for the DACA policy and against Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Education

Senator Menendez has fought for years against increasing student loan interest rates. He and Elizabeth Warren introduced the Student Loan Tax Relief Act, which eliminates the hidden tax on forgiven student loan debt, to protect American students and their families from continued financial hardship, while bolstering long-term U.S. economic growth.

He sponsored legislation to create a federal-state partnership to provide two years of tuition-free access to public community or technical college programs that lead to a degree or industry-recognized credential. (ATNJ, October 2018)

Gun Safety

Senator Menendez has been a gun sense advocate for over 2 decades. Senator Menendez recognized twenty-five years ago the danger of assault weapons and voted for the original Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 as a member of the House of Representatives.He also co-sponsored legislation to restore the assault weapons ban. He has advocated gun safety by sponsoring legislation to expand background checks and close the gun show loophole, outlaw “bump stocks” and other devices that make semiautomatic weapons fully automatic, prevent those on the Terror Watch List from purchasing guns, and improve access to mental health and addiction treatment.(ATNJ, October 2018)

Foreign Affairs

Senator Menendez is not afraid of standing up to Russia. He has been sanctioned by Russia for standing up to Russian aggression and their attacks on American democracy and He has been a vocal and relentless critic of Trump’s relationship with Putin.

We need Senator Menendez to keep fighting for us! We need a strong voice in Washington to advocate and protect the interests of New Jersey. We need you to VOTE for Bob Menendez for Senate.

Marci Bandelli

Marci Bandelli is the Co-Founder of Westfield 20/20, a New Jersey grassroots activist group with over 2,000 members; the group has been featured on the PBS NewsHour, The Rachel Maddow Show, and in The New York Times.