Patricia Campos-Medina’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat raised $303,754 in the first three months of 2024, around two-thirds of which came via a $200,000 personal loan from Campos-Medina herself.
Thanks to extremely high operating expenditures, Campos-Medina ended the quarter – her first quarter in the race – with $44,382 on-hand. (Per her reports, more than half of the $259,000 she spent went towards consulting, rather than towards ads, events, or other campaign expenditures.)
As expected, those fundraising totals put her far behind her chief opponent in the Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown). Kim – who has had six years in a competitive congressional seat to build up his fundraising skills – raised $3 million this quarter and had $4.2 million in the bank.
But Campos-Medina said in a statement that Kim’s financial advantage won’t deter her.
“The FEC Q1 financial filings are done and while the numbers may show that I am way behind one of my political opponents, we are feeling strong because we are inspired by the hundreds of working families who have made small donations,” Campos-Medina said. “The union members who sent me $10 to $50 dollars have made this campaign stronger and bolder. With their support, we re-commit ourselves to keep investing every dollar into outreach and education to increase voter participation on June 4th, 2024.”
A third Democratic candidate, Larry Hamm, has not yet filed his Q1 report. If the $12,187 he raised in 2023 is any indication, he likely won’t pose much of a financial threat to Kim, either.
The Democratic primary was originally set to be a competitive – and extraordinarily expensive – contest between Kim and First Lady Tammy Murphy, who like Kim showed herself capable of raising millions of dollars. But Murphy dropped out of the race in March, saying that she wanted Democrats to avoid a brutally negative campaign that could harm their chances in the general election.
That left Kim as the heavy frontrunner against Campos-Medina and Hamm, both of whom have struggled to break through against the three-term congressman. An Emerson poll earlier this month put Kim at 51% of the statewide Democratic primary vote, far ahead of Campos-Medina’s 6% and Hamm’s 5%.