New Jersey has a fully functional, entirely non-indicted Senate delegation once again.
George Helmy was sworn into the U.S. Senate today, succeeding disgraced Senator Bob Menendez, who resigned on August 20 following his conviction on corruption charges. Helmy’s time in the Senate will be fleeting; he’s set to serve until the regularly scheduled November election between Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and Republican Curtis Bashaw is certified, after which he will step down and Gov. Phil Murphy will appoint the winner to his seat.
“New Jersey couldn’t have a better caretaker for the next few months,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor shortly before Helmy was sworn in. “George Helmy knows New Jersey like the back of his hand… I thank George for answering the call of service. We wish him nothing but success, and are ready to assist him however necessary in the weeks and months to come.”
The son of Egyptian immigrants, Helmy is the first-ever member of the Coptic Orthodox Church to serve in the Senate. He was sworn in today on a Orthodox Study Bible, which he said has accompanied him since he was in college.
The 44-year-old Helmy had never held or sought elected office before Murphy announced his appointment to the Senate last month. Helmy’s most prominent previous role was working as Murphy’s chief of staff; prior to his time in Murphy’s office, Helmy was a staffer for New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Cory Booker, the latter of whom escorted Helmy into the Senate chamber today.
“During his tenure as my state director, I witnessed his exceptional leadership and profound understanding of the key issues affecting our state,” Booker said of Helmy in a statement. “I know that in his time in the Senate, he will dedicate himself to improving the lives of all those we represent. I welcome George to the Senate, I look forward to working alongside him, and I know he will make New Jersey proud.”
(Booker, for his part, now officially gets to be New Jersey’s senior senator, nearly 11 years after first winning his seat in the Senate.)
As Helmy himself has noted, he won’t have much time to get things done in the famously slow-moving chamber. The Senate is scheduled to be out of session for all of October and the first week of November, meaning that Helmy will only have four or five weeks in-session as a senator before he’s replaced by Kim or Bashaw in November.
Nonetheless, Helmy said he’s ready to get to work on the issues where he can have an impact during his brief tenure.
“There’s a few things I’m already focused on,” he told the New Jersey Globe. “One of which, I talked to the White House today [about] helping them advance nominations and judges, which I know have been backlogged. Two is to maintain New Jersey’s share of appropriations – I was just talking to [Senate Appropriations Chair] Patty Murray. There’s a couple of pieces of legislation that we’re going to introduce in this first week that I’m really excited about.”
Asked whether he felt different now that he’s one of just 100 U.S. senators in the country, Helmy said he absolutely does.
“Today, when I was walking into work, knowing that I was going to be the person whose name was going to be on the vote – it definitely felt different,” he said. “It was humbling. I was at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday – reading the inscriptions on both sides of the walls feels different when you’re coming to do this kind of work.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-09 11:05:00
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