Brennan raises $85k, Ramirez raises $49k in LD-32 primary

A challenger in what could be one of this year’s most competitive Assembly primaries outraised an incumbent assemblywoman, who is self-funding to keep pace in this already expensive race.

Katie Brennan, a candidate in the 32nd legislative district, raised a staggering $85,000 in the first two months of her Assembly campaign, according to a Wednesday filing. Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (D-Jersey City) raised $49,000 and loaned her campaign another $80,000, according to a filing with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Brennan, a former New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency official who launched her campaign in late October, entered 2025 with more than $76,000 on hand. Ramirez, a freshman incumbent, entered the year with about $130,000 on hand.

“There’s a lot of excitement in Jersey City and Hoboken for the type of real change that an open primary brings, and for the opportunity to choose leaders who will fight for them, not the politically connected few,” Brennan said in a release. “The grassroots energy we’re seeing shows that people are ready for a government that works for all of us, and I’m proud to stand with them in this fight.”

Wednesday was a busy day in the race for the 32nd: Two-term Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, an impressive fundraiser in his own right, joined the race. Bhalla’s announcement appears to be further confirmation of what the New Jersey Globe reported in August, that Assemblyman John Allen (D-Hoboken) was planning to retire.

At the close of September, Bhalla had $36,803 on hand in his mayoral campaign account. That money is transferrable to his nascent Assembly campaign. The mayor hasn’t filed his Q4 fundraising totals.

Bhalla spent $2,185,536 in his ill-fated congressional campaign against Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City). Bhalla, one of the first Sikh mayors anywhere in the country, came 15 percentage points shy of Menendez in a race focused largely on the corruption charges against the congressman’s father.

Allen, who has not officially announced his retirement, raised just $2,275 over the last three months. Low fundraising figures are often another indicator of a planned retirement.

The winners of the Democratic primary in the 32nd will all but assuredly win the general election, but the primary is set to be bruising.