Andy Kim has $3.8 million cash-on-hand in bid for third term

Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) continues to raise gargantuan amounts of money as he seeks a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey’s 3rd district and now has a whopping $3.8 million in the bank.

Kim, the Gottheimer of the South, raised over $729,000 during the first three months of 2022, standout numbers even without his refusal to accept corporate PAC money and being partly sidelined for part of the time with Covid.

“We’re coming into this election year with a lot of momentum and excitement,” Kim told the New Jersey Globe.

The Democratic congressman’s cash-on-hand eclipses that of his Republican challengers.  Yacht manufacturer Robert Healey, Jr. has $756,000 in the bank after raising more than $1 million – that includes his own $260,000 contribution – and gym owner Ian Smith has raised just under $100,000 and has about $68,000 remaining.

A third GOP candidate, Hamilton realtor Nicholas Ferrara, raised $2,010 and loaned himself $53,200, but he’s already burned through that money and has just $435 cash-on-hand.

If Healey wins the nomination, this would be Kim’s third race against a Republican with an ability to self-fund his campaign.  Kim ousted two-term Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-Toms River) by 3,973 votes, 50%-49%, in 2018 – MacArthur had won the seat in 2014 after self-funding his own primary – and defeated former Hill International CEO David Richter by eight percentage points in 2020.

The political landscape is different for Kim in 2022.

Donald Trump carried the 3rd district in 2016 and narrowly in 2020, but congressional redistricting has made the seat considerably more Democratic.

The 3rd no longer includes the Republican stronghold of Ocean County – which Richter won by nearly 15 points in 2022 — and instead adds more of Burlington, Hamilton, Lawrence, East Windsor and Hightstown in Mercer and parts of western Monmouth County.

Gov. Phil Murphy lost the old 3rd district by more than 14 points in his bid for re-election last year but carried the new 3rd with 50.7% of the vote.

Kim, 39,  grew up in Evesham as the son of Korean immigrants.  He graduated from the University of Chicago and was a Rhodes Scholar.  He served in the Obama White House on the National Security staff after working at the U.S. Department of State and served in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor to two U.S. Army generals, David Petraeus and John Allen.

He gained national attention when he was photographed picking up garbage in the U.S. Capitol after the events of January 6, 2021, and for speaking out after acts of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.