Democratic county organizations have huge cash advantage

New Jersey’s 21 Democratic county organizations have a 4-1 cash advantage over the 21 Republican county organizations headed into the General Election.

Democratic county parties raised $1,560,160 during the first six months of 2021, while the GOP brought in $869,248 during the same period.  Democrats also spent more: $1,708,410, compared to $574,077 for the Republicans.

Gov. Phil Murphy has donated $65,927 to county Democratic organizations since May, while Republican Jack Ciattarelli has contributed just $1,000 to the Morris County Republicans, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Democratic organizations have almost $2.5 million cash-in-hand, with nearly 90% of that coming from seven counties with more than $100,000 banked.

The largest warchests are in Gloucester ($467,016), where Senate President Steve Sweeney is in control, and in Passaic ($452,847), where former Democratic State Chairman John Currie has been the Passaic County Democratic Chairman since the 1990s.  Bergen County Democrats have $307,056 banked after bankrolling Gordon Johnson’s 3-1 victory in the State Senate primary last month.

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) sent $37,000 to Bergen County Democrats on May 2.  They donated $703,000 to the county parties four years ago.

The combined cash-on-hand of New Jersey’s 21 GOP county parties is $574,077.  Cape May Republicans have the most money, with $91,026 in their warchest.

Republicans may be banking on the generosity of their new state party chairman, Bob Hugin.  The former Celgene chairman, who spent $36 million of his own money on a U.S. Senate race three years ago, sent $37,000 checks to Republican county organizations in Atlantic and Union counties.

In 2018, Hugin contributed $132,500 to GOP county organizations.

“Cash-on-hand is an important barometer of a political committee’s financial strength,” said Jeff Brindle, the ELEC executive director. “While overall county party fund-raising has been lagging largely due to the pandemic, the collective war chest of more than $3 million is certainly respectable at this point in the election year.”

In Monmouth County, where Republicans withdrew party support for two-term Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-Holmdel), the GOP county organization raised $100,047 and spent $131,652.

“Whenever you have the governor’s seat and all 120 legislative seats up for grabs, it raises the stakes. Especially since only New Jersey and Virginia have gubernatorial races this year,” stated Brindle. “Counties play a key role in helping with get-out-the-vote and other activities during a major state election year. In addition to tapping their reserves, they are likely to receive additional funds.”