After first quarter, New Jersey’s House delegation has over $22 million in the bank

Three months into the 118th Congress, New Jersey’s twelve members of the U.S. House of Representatives have a combined cash-on-hand of $22,287,530, first quarter reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show.

Nearly two-thirds of all dollars in the warchests of New Jersey’s House members (64%) belongs to four-term Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff).  The Human Fundraising Machine has $14,223,270 after raising $1,097,072 so far this year — over $8 million more than the other eleven incumbents combined. A former Clinton White House speechwriter, Gottheimer unseated a seven-term Republican incumbent in 2016 in the 5th district; Donald Trump won the 5th that year.

After congressional redistricting and the 2022 mid-term elections, at this point, only one of the twelve New Jersey districts will be hugely competitive in next year’s general election: the 7th district, where Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) is seeing re-election to a second term.  Kean, a former minority leader of the New Jersey State Senate, raised $831,271 in the first quarter and has $735,745 cash-on-hand.

The ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch), has $2,773,94 banked after bringing in $379,040.  Pallone was first elected to the 6th district seat in 1988 after serving nearly five years in the State Senate.

The 14-term congressman from the 9th district, 86-year-old Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-Paterson), has $1,362,709 in his warchest after raising $160,970 during the first three months of 2023.   A Republican seeking to unseat him next year, U.S. Army veteran Vince Micco raised $16,253 and has $9,218 cash-on-hand.

Micco announced his congressional bid in December.  He ran against Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Englewood) twice in the old 9th district: he won 28% in 2006 and 31% in 2008.  Billy Prempeh, a U.S. Air Force veteran, held Pascrell to 55% this year; in 2020, before congressional redistricting made the 9th more competitive as a way of shoring up seats held by Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and Gottheimer, Pascrell beat Prempeh by 34 points.

Sherrill has $888,696 in her warchest after raising $443,201 during the first quarter.  The former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor was re-elected to a third term in the 11th district by nineteen percentage points in 2022.

In the 1st district, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) raised $152,772 during the first three months of the year and now has $654,587 in his campaign account.  The former South Jersey AFL-CIO president and state legislator was elected to Congress in 2012.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) has $535,448 in the bank after raising $247,424 in Q1. Van Drew was elected to Congress in 2018 after nearly seventeen years in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly. He is expected to seek a fourth term in the 2nd district in 2024.

Three-term Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), who flipped the 3rd district congressional seat in 2018 and has since made it safe, raised $469,303 in the first three months of the year and has $515,567 in the bank.  Kim, a former Obama White House staffer, ousted two-term Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-Toms River) in 2018.

In the 4th district, Rep. 22-term Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Manchester), the longest-serving congressman in New Jersey history, has $240,270 in his warchest after raising $70,687 so far this year.  He beat back a primary challenger last year by 21 points and won the general election by 36 points, receiving the most votes in the state in 2022.

Freshman Rep. Robert J. Menendez (D-Jersey City) raised $53,413 during the first three months of 2021 and has $217,424 cash-on-hand.

After raising $97,376 during the first quarter of 2023, five-term Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) has $92,479 cash-on-hand.  She won the 12th district seat in 2014 after serving as Assembly Majority Leader and Democratic State Chair.  Republican Darius Mayfield, who is eyeing a rematch after winning 36% in 2022, raised $1,877 in Q1, and has $6,196 in the bank.

After demolishing a well-funded Democratic primary opponent in 2022 with 78% of the vote, Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) brought in $16,771 during the first three months of the year and has $48,351 cash-on-hand.