Developer Curtis Bashaw, one of New Jersey’s leading Republican candidates for U.S. Senate this year, raised $1,117,701 in the 1st quarter of 2024, $600,000 of which came from a loan from the candidate himself.
Bashaw ended the quarter with $825,193 on-hand, a hefty sum in his GOP primary contest against Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner and two other candidates.
While the totals are strong for a first-time Republican candidate running a statewide campaign in New Jersey, they still fall substantially short of the goals the Bashaw campaign set for itself. In February, Bashaw said he intended to raise “at least $2 million” in the 1st quarter, including a $500,000 self-contribution; he only ended up raising around half of that, with just $518,000 coming from individual donors.
But the data point that will ultimately matter is comparing Bashaw’s numbers to those of his Republican primary opponents, none of whom have released 1st quarter reports yet. Serrano Glassner, Bashaw’s main competition, reported raising an unimpressive $266,534 in the 4th quarter of last year, of which $200,000 was self-funded.
The other two Republicans running for Senate, Albert Harshaw and Justin Murphy, have yet to file any fundraising reports at all.
Bashaw and Serrano Glassner are the only two candidates to have any GOP organizational lines – and Bashaw holds the upper hand, winning 13 lines to Serrano Glassner’s six. But if a state judge decides to wade into a federal court decision and overturn the overturn the county line for GOP candidates, then the primary could be massively reshaped, possibly in Serrano Glassner’s favor.
On the Democratic side, the heavy frontrunner is Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), who raised $3 million in the 1st quarter and has $4.2 million cash on-hand in the race to succeed indicted Senator Bob Menendez.