Longtime Activist From Essex County Guns For Menendez’s Senate Seat

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — One of Essex County’s most ardent political activists says he plans to run for a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey, and has added his name to the list of candidates who are setting their sights on the post currently occupied by embattled Sen. Robert Menendez.

Lawrence Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization For Progress (POP), recently announced that he will be running in the 2024 New Jersey Democratic primary election.

The Newark native and Montclair resident filed as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission last week – the same week that a three-count indictment was unveiled against Menendez, his wife, Nadine, and three businessmen. In the indictment, officials allege the senator and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, in exchange for using Menendez's power and influence in the Senate to benefit those three men and also the country of Egypt. Read More: Gold Bars For Govt. Documents: Feds Say NJ Sen. Menendez Aided Egypt

Menendez – who emerged unscathed from separate bribery charges nearly five years ago – has maintained his innocence and says he plans to stay in office, despite calls for his resignation from both sides of the aisle. Read More: Menendez Says He Will Not Resign, Is Innocent After Bribery Indictment

Hamm said he made the decision to run before news broke about Menendez’s latest charges. But he acknowledges that the longtime Garden State senator will have a looming presence in the 2024 race, even if he chooses to resign.

“Sen. Menendez is innocent until proven guilty,” Hamm said. “However, the charges against him are serious and have caused him to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

“He should take the next step and resign from office,” the Newark resident added.

LARRY HAMM: LONGTIME NJ ACTIVIST

It isn’t the first foray into federal candidacy for Hamm, 69, who ran for U.S. Senate against Cory Booker in 2020 – nabbing nearly 119,000 votes along the way.

That same year, Hamm – a self-described “radical” – was also chair of the Bernie Sanders campaign in New Jersey. In 2016, Hamm served as a Sanders delegate to the National Democratic Convention.

When the Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988, Hamm was co-chair of the 1988 campaign in New Jersey, and was a Jackson delegate to the Democratic National Convention that year.

Hamm’s political journey began in 1971 when as a high school student and student government leader he led a walkout, march and sit-in over student concerns. This led to his appointment at age 17 to the Newark Board of Education by then-mayor Kenneth Gibson, making him the youngest school board member in the nation.

After serving a three-year term on the school board, he completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University and graduated cum laude with a degree in politics.

While at Princeton, Hamm was a leader in the campus anti-apartheid movement, which was struggling to get Princeton to divest its stock holdings in companies doing business with the racist apartheid regime in South Africa. After several protests and a building takeover, the university ultimately divested from several corporations – a victory that Hamm still remembers.

After graduating from Princeton Hamm returned to Newark. In 1982, he became founder and chairman of the POP, a grassroots organization that fights for “racial, social and economic justice.” Read More: They Helped Lead Newark's George Floyd Protest; What's Next?

“I am running for the U.S. Senate because I want to make life better for people in this country,” Hamm said of his latest political aspirations.

“Our government must work for the benefit of all the people, not just the rich and powerful,” Hamm continued. “As senator, I will fight for Medicare For All, a $15 per hour federal minimum wage, cancellation of student debt, free college, reparations for African Americans, protection and expansion of social security, and other programs, policies and legislation to help people.”

• See Related: Newark 'Radical' Celebrates 50 Years Of Activism – By Protesting

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