When Donald Trump narrowly and unexpectedly carried New Jersey’s 9th congressional district last year, it put Billy Prempeh, the dogged but largely unknown GOP nominee for the seat, in a national spotlight he’d never experienced before. But now, running for a fourth time for the Paterson-based district, Prempeh is still struggling to turn that spotlight into a well-funded political operation.
In second-quarter fundraising reports filed yesterday, Prempeh reported raising just $1,164 total during the last three months. And after spending around that same amount, he ended the quarter with a negative cash-on-hand balance: -$635.
Prempeh said that he’s been dealing with health issues recently which dampened his campaigning abilities, but that he’s recovered now and is in the process of putting together a new finance team for his campaign.
“You’ll definitely see me more” in the near future, Prempeh said.
The Air Force veteran and Paterson native’s fundraising difficulties, though, go back further than just this quarter. Prempeh raised just $268 during his first quarter in the race earlier this year, and during his 2024 campaign, he only reported raising a little under $50,000 total. (He also ran for the same seat in 2020 and 2022; the latter was his all-time best fundraising cycle, raising a little over $300,000 in total.)
Prempeh also no longer has the GOP field in the 9th district to himself. Last week, Clifton City Councilwoman Rosie Pino entered the race; since she launched her campaign after the Q2 filing deadline, her own fundraising abilities likely won’t be known until the next reporting deadline in October.
When Prempeh first ran for the 9th district in 2020, it was solidly Democratic turf held by longtime Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson). Redistricting ahead of the 2022 midterms made it more competitive, but Pascrell still beat Prempeh by double digits in their rematch that year.
In 2024, though, things went dramatically downhill for 9th district Democrats. Pascrell died in August of that year, necessitating a last-minute search for a replacement that landed on now-Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), then a state senator. Pou was seen as a shoo-in in the November general election against Prempeh, but Trump’s enormous gains among New Jersey’s Hispanic voters made the race far more competitive than expected, and Pou only won 51% to 46%.
Republicans have since added Pou to their 2026 target list, and given that she’s one of just a dozen or so House Democrats to hold a Trump-won district, she’ll undoubtedly have to fight hard for re-election next year. The question for the GOP, though, is who their standard-bearer will be – Prempeh, Pino, or some third as-yet-unknown option – and whether they’ll have the resources to compete.
Pou, for her part, raised $503,524 during the second quarter of 2025 and has $779,700 stockpiled for her re-election campaign.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
-
October 26, 2018 -
October 26, 2018