Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s Democratic primary campaign against Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) continued to rack up money in the 1st quarter of 2024, raising $649,077 – a huge total for a candidate challenging a sitting member of the House.
Bhalla had previously raised nearly $1 million during his first month in the race last year, bringing his total raised to just over $1.6 million. Thanks to a relatively high burn rate, he ended the 1st quarter with $991,198 on-hand.
Menendez, for his part, had a slightly higher Q1 total, raising $677,775. He reported having a warchest of just under $1.2 million as of the end of the quarter.
A third Democratic candidate, Kyle Jasey, remained far behind the two leading contenders, raising just $4,648. He’s unlikely to be much of a factor in the race, save for potentially serving as a spoiler at Bhalla’s expense.
The high totals raised by both Bhalla and Menendez indicated that the two-month sprint to the June 4 primary will be a slugfest, one that will likely feature intense advertising and campaigning on both sides. A recent super PAC-commissioned poll found Bhalla with a five-point lead over Menendez, a freshman congressman seeking a second term against the headwinds of his father’s federal indictment.
Menendez has most local institutional support, including from the Hudson, Essex, and Union County Democratic parties, as well as the backing of Democratic leaders in the House. But with no county lines in this year’s primary, and with the Menendez name becoming tarnished in the eyes of Democratic voters, Bhalla’s well-funded campaign could break through and bring about the first primary loss for a New Jersey member of Congress in decades.
If elected, Bhalla would be the first-ever turbaned Sikh to serve in Congress, and the second Asian American to represent New Jersey in Washington. Not coincidentally, many of the donors fueling his campaign appear to come from the country’s Sikh and Indian American communities – a nationwide network that has paid big dividends for Bhalla.