A judge in the Sen. Robert Menendez trial ordered a deadlocked jury Monday to deliberate further, according to CNN.

The judge asked the seven women and five men to go home for the day and clear their heads before returning Tuesday, the report said.

The Menedez trial continued after a juror who was promised her prescheduled vacation time was replaced. That juror reportedly predicted a hung jury.

After being relieved of her jury duty, Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby told reporters Thursday that many of her fellow jurors were leaning toward acquittal, but that she expected no verdict to be reached.

Menendez has been on trial alongside Salomon Melgen, the South Florida ophthalmologist who showered the senator with gifts in a fashion that government lawyers contend was illegal.

Menendez faces 17 counts of bribery for assisting Melgen both with a Medicare fraud conviction and helping Melgen’s girlfriends enter the United States legally.

The trial’s drawn-out deliberation process has potentially explosive political ramifications. The combination of the length of the trial and the new complications with the jury deliberations have already pushed the verdict past New Jersey’s gubernatorial election, with Democrat Phil Murphy winning the race.

That could make it all the more likely that Menendez would resist calls by Republicans to resign if convicted, since stalling the process until Murphy takes office in Trenton would ensure a Democrat holds the seat.