Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Delran)’s three main opponents for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd congressional district filed their 2024 Q1 fundraising reports today – and none raised the kind of money they’d likely need to dethrone Conaway from his frontrunner status.
Conaway announced earlier this month that he’d raised $318,000 in the 1st quarter for his campaign to succeed Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), and he has $290,000 left on-hand. It was a respectable haul that, as it turns out, represents more than all of his opponents raised combined.
Civil rights attorney Joe Cohn was the second-best fundraiser, raising $126,584 – $20,000 of which came from a personal loan – and ending the quarter with $59,287 left over. Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel) was next, raising $74,064; she had previously raised $47,964 during her first quarter in the race, and reported $53,618 in her warchest at the end of Q1.
At the back of the pack was businesswoman Sarah Schoengood, who raised just $21,768 ($5,000 of it self-funded) and finished with $15,262 on-hand. A fifth Democratic candidate, Brian Schkeeper, has yet to file with the Federal Election Commission.
Conaway, a 26-year veteran of the State Assembly who waged one prior run for Congress in 2004, has official party support from all three county Democratic organizations that make up the 3rd district. In a prior election year, that alone would have been enough to make him the heavy favorite for the nomination – but all bets are off this year thanks to a federal court decision abolishing the county line in the Democratic primary.
Indeed, Murphy released a poll on April 2 that found the race in a dead heat, with Conaway leading her 22%-18%; Cohn and Schoengood were much further back at 4% and 3%, respectively. Given Conaway’s substantial financial edge, though, he should have a much easier time communicating to voters over the next two months than any of his opponents.
Republicans in the 3rd district are also hosting a contested primary, with two candidates self-funding a fair bit of money.
Physician Rajesh Mohan, who has the GOP county line (which still exists) across the district, raised $107,615, $60,000 of it from himself; immigration consultant Shirley Maia-Cusick raised $117,361, $86,000 of it from herself. Greg Sobocinski raised $6,430, and Mike Faccone has not filed any fundraising reports at all.
Just a few years ago, the 3rd district was held by a Republican congressman, and Kim won his first term by just a few thousand votes in one of 2018’s closest races. But following the 2020 Census, the district was redrawn to be much more Democratic, and few observers expect Republicans to make the race competitive this year.