TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is slated to resign by the end of the day Tuesday, about a month after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges.

Menendez signaled his resignation last month in a letter to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who said Friday he’s tapping a former top aide to succeed the three-term incumbent.

George Helmy will succeed Menendez until the November election results for the Senate seat are certified late in the month, the governor said. At that point, Murphy said Helmy will resign and he’ll name the winner of the election to the seat.

The stakes in the Senate election are high, with Democrats holding on to a narrow majority. Republicans have not won a Senate election in Democratic-leaning New Jersey in over five decades.

Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican hotel developer Curtis Bashaw are facing off in the general election.

Helmy, 44, served as Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 until 2023 and currently serves as an executive at one of the state’s largest health care providers, RWJBarnabas Health. He previously served as Sen. Cory Booker’s state director in the Senate.

Menendez, 70, was convicted on charges that he used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect the businessmen. Prosecutors said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt.

He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes, including providing details on personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators regarding lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents also said they found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 hidden in Menendez’s house.

Menendez denied all of the allegations, and in in a letter to Murphy last month, he said he’s planning to appeal the conviction.

The resignation appears to mark the end of a nearly lifelong political career for Menendez, who was first elected to his local school board just a couple of years after his high school graduation. He was also elected to the state Legislature and Congress before heading to the Senate.

Menendez is the only U.S. senator indicted twice.

In 2015, he was charged with letting a wealthy Florida eye doctor buy his influence through luxury vacations and campaign contributions. After a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in 2017, New Jersey federal prosecutors dropped the case rather than put him on trial again.

He served as a Democrat in Congress but decided not to run in the primary this year as his court case was unfolding. He filed to run as an independent in the fall, though he withdrew his name from the ballot on Friday, according to a letter he sent to state election officials.

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Good evening, New Jersey Patch readers! We’ve assembled some of the most share-worthy stories from the state for today, just for you.

Here are the top five stories from New Jersey:

1. Body camera footage has been released in the fatal police shooting of a 25-year-old woman last month. An advocacy group called the chain of events “horrifying” and has called for change. (Read more on Patch.)

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3. A heavy overnight storm trapped cars, flooded basements and washed away road asphalt in one North Jersey town. More rain may be on the way, forecasters say. (Read more on Patch.)

4. After a major motor failure over the weekend, officials said an important bridge in Cape May County will be closed to traffic indefinitely. (Read more on Patch.)

5. A doctor, who is a vocal supporter of a ceasefire in Gaza, is running as an independent mayoral candidate in her town this year. (Read more on Patch.)

An antisemitic New Jersey arsonist was sentenced to a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for a crime spree targeting Jewish residents in which he burned down a Manchester home, damaged three, and vandalized 14 others, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and Manchester Police.

Manchester resident Ron Carr, 35, pled guilty on June 20 to arson, bias intimidation, and criminal mischief. On Friday, he received concurrent sentences of seven years, five years, and 18 months, respectively. 

Carr, who according to WKXW-FM radio, believed that he was “saving the neighborhood” from an “infestation” of Jewish residents, began his series of attacks when he vandalized 14 homes around midnight on June 6, 2023. Manchester Police said that Carr had spray painted the houses with “Nazi symbolism.”

A few hours later, Carr used accelerants to set fire to the home of a family with Hispanic background, believing that the house was owned by a Jews, according to a rebuilding fundraising project and the Manchester Police. The house was also spray-painted in the earlier acts of vandalism. WKXW-FM radio said that Carr believed that the house would be converted into a Jewish school. 

The Rivas family home was razed to the ground, three other homes suffered heat damage, and flames spread to the woods behind the house.

“I am thankful no one was injured in these senseless acts of bigotry and hate,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement last year. 

Carr was arrested on June 9, 2023, according to the police. 

“This crime spree and the antisemitism that it expressed caused pain, destruction, shock, and fear among the residents of Manchester Township,” said NJ Attorney General Matthew Platkin. “No community in the State of New Jersey should feel vulnerable or anxious in the face of acts of intolerance. No resident should feel their personal safety or their home is threatened by bigotry, persecution, and violence.”

Fundraiser was started to help build new home

A fundraiser was started to help the family of six to build a new home, as they reportedly did not have insurance on the newly constructed building. According to the fundraising page, the family had sold their business and invested their life savings to build the home, which they had planned to move into later that year. By August 2024, the GoFundMe had only raised $11,000. 

Manchester Mayor Rob Arace said on June 9 of last year that he was disturbed and saddened to see acts of hatred and harm in the community. 

“In the face of adversity, let us unite against hate and intolerance,” Arace said on Facebook. “Manchester is a place where compassion, respect, and understanding prevail. We can build a community that exemplifies these values and ensures a safe and welcoming environment.”