Andy Kim has over $1.9 million banked for U.S. Senate bid, with over 12,000 individual donations

Andy Kim’s total third-quarter fundraising haul was a towering $1.17 million, giving him over $1.9 million cash-on-hand as he pursues the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by indicted incumbent Bob Menendez.

Kim’s monster quarter was powered by a gargantuan 12,045 individual donations, many of whom donated online during the last week of September; he entered the New Jersey Senate race on September 23, one day after the Justice Department unsealed a lurid indictment charging the three-term senator with bribery and conspiracy.   Kim became the first New Jersey Democrat to call on Menendez to resign.

“The grassroots energy to restore integrity to our politics is extraordinary as we raised nearly a million dollars in the last seven days of the quarter after I announced my campaign for Senate,” Kim said.

His fundraising success comes without accepting any corporate PAC money — and perhaps boosted by a of him picking up garbage in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda during the early morning hours following the January 6, 2021 protests.

Since joining the race, Kim has hammered Menendez’s ethics in a constant flow of fundraising emails.

After federal prosecutors filed new charges accusing Menendez of being an unregistered agent of a foreign government, Kim called for the Senate to expel him.

“Before I came to Congress, I worked in national security.  I swore an oath to defend our constitution at all costs,” he told prospective donors.  “So when I read the new indictment against Senator Bob Menendez, I had no doubt what needed to happen.”

After just a few days in the race, a poll paid for by End Citizens United, which backs Kim, showed him leading Menendez., 63%-10%.

While Menendez has not said he is bailing on a re-election bid, few believe the pragmatic officeholder of 37 years will remain in the race.

“We can stop taking the idea that Menendez would even be a factor — let alone have a chance to win — in next June’s Democratic primary seriously,” Steven Shephard, POLITICO’s senior campaigns and elections editor and chief polling analyst, said on social media last week.

More likely, Kim’s main primary opponent will be Tammy Murphy, the wife of Gov. Phil Murphy and a prodigious fundraiser.   She has been meeting with Democratic party leaders and potential donors.

One important signal of the first lady’s fledgling candidacy was a declaration by Governor Murphy that he supported the continuation of New Jersey’s county line system, which gives preferential ballot placement to candidates endorsed by county party organizations.  In an interview with the New Jersey Globe days before Menendez’s indictment, Kim indicated he backed the abolishment of lines.

Progressive Democrats have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the lines.
Two of Kim’s colleagues, Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, have declined to run for the Senate; instead, they are expected to seek re-election to the House and then seek the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2025 when Phil Murphy is term-limited.

A former Newark school board member and civil rights activist, Larry Hamm, joined the race.  So has a political newcomer, Kyle Jasey, the son of retiring Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-South Orange).

To run for the Senate,  the 41-year-old Kim is giving up a House seat he made safe last year – four years after narrowly unseating a two-term Republican congressman in a district Donald Trump carried twice.  Kim bested self-funding GOP opponents in all three races.

“People in New Jersey deserve a Senator who serves them with integrity, responsibility, and humility – that’s what this campaign is all about,” stated Kim.   I’m truly humbled by the surge of support from families in New Jersey ready for a new generation of leadership.”

In his first week as a Senate candidate, Kim scored endorsements from the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers union, Daily Kos, End Citizens United // Let America Vote, Vote Vets, the Progressive Turnout Project, and two top New Jersey lawmakers from his district, Senate Majority Whip Troy Singleton (D-Delran) and Assembly Majority Whip Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel).

Correction: the Kim campaign told the New Jersey Globe on Sunday afternoon that a software glitch had incorrectly reported 19,511 individual contributions because it had not accounted for duplicates after a quick conversion from a House account to the Senate.  The amount raised and cash-on-hand remains the same.