Menendez told reporters Monday afternoon that he looked forward to proving his innocence and campaigning on his 18-year record in the Senate. In particular, he talked about his work getting aid for New Jersey’s recovery after Hurricane Sandy and helping hospitals stay on their feet during the pandemic.

“Those are just some of the things I look forward to talking about,” Menendez said during an interview at the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where he is on trial.

He declined to say whether he would caucus with Democrats or Republicans if he won.

While it would be difficult to run as an independent, especially if his poll numbers that plummeted after his indictment do not improve, he said he would stack his record up against anyone in the race.

Rep. Andy Kim is widely expected to be the Democratic nominee for Menendez’s Senate seat, though he faces two opponents in Tuesday’s primary: Labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm. The Republican nomination fight is mainly between hotelier Curtis Bashaw, who has the bulk of local Republican Party support, and Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, who’s been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Menendez has virtually no shot at winning reelection as an independent, and his fundraising has dried up since his indictment. As of May 15, he had nearly $3.6 million in his campaign account, but he’s expected to use much of that to pay his criminal defense lawyers. Just between April 1 and May 15 he paid them $2 million from his campaign account.

While Menendez’s political career is almost certainly over, his candidacy could give Republicans a better chance to win a Senate seat in New Jersey for the first time since 1972 — though that would still be unlikely.

New Jersey has not elected an independent candidate to statewide office. The last well-funded statewide candidate for New Jersey, 2009 gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett, garnered less than 6 percent of the vote.

An Emerson College poll in late March tested Menendez in a general election matchup between an unnamed Democratic and Republican candidate. Menendez garnered 9 percent support to the Democrat’s 49 percent and the Republicans’ 42 percent. But Black and Hispanic voters — important parts of the Democrats’ coalition — were more likely than white voters to back Menendez.

Menendez entered the Senate in 2006 and eventually rose to chair the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. But he was also dogged by corruption accusations and investigations throughout his tenure, including charges filed against him that he beat in 2017 thanks to a hung jury.

Shortly after Menendez’s previous corruption trial ended, he struck up a relationship with his now-wife and co-defendant Nadine Menendez. The Menendezes are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for doing favors for several businesspeople and the Egyptian and Qatari governments. Menendez faces charges that include bribery, obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

The current case against Menendez appears much stronger than the previous one, when the Democratic Party remained supportive after the mistrial and helped him win reelection in 2018 by 11 points. Nevertheless, a series of federal court decisions have made it more difficult to convict public officials of corruption, and the judge overseeing the trial has ruled some critical evidence against the senator inadmissible because of the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause.

While Menendez said he plans to run if exonerated, it’s not clear whether he’ll remove his name from the ballot if convicted. Democrats or others could choose to challenge Menendez’s petition signatures. They have until June 10 to submit challenges.

Menendez’s decision comes as his son, Rep. Rob Menendez, seeks reelection in the Democratic primary to the 8th District House seat he won with his father’s help in 2022. Rob Menendez has the bulk of the Democratic establishment endorsements — the same people who turned away from his father — but faces a well-funded challenge from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Rob Menendez has yet to say whether he’ll endorse his father or back the Democratic nominee.

“Americans are fed up with politicians putting their own personal benefit ahead of what’s right for the country,” Kim said in a statement. “Everyone knows Bob Menendez isn’t running for the people of New Jersey, he’s doing it for himself. It’s beyond time for change and I’m stepping up to restore integrity back into the U.S. Senate.”

Ry Rivard contributed to this article.