Newark Council President LaMonica McIver has raised $455,000 in the four months since launching her campaign to succeed the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) in the 10th congressional district, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.
That far outstrips her Republican opponent in the September 18 special election, Carmen Bucco, who has raised just $18,000 for his own campaign. Even if Bucco had been a prodigious fundraiser, though, he still would have had no chance of beating McIver in a majority-Black seat that’s one of the most Democratic districts in the country.
The vast majority of McIver’s donations came in the few weeks leading up to the 10th district’s special Democratic primary on July 16 (though some had not been reported until her pre-special election report, which covers July 1 to August 29, was filed on Wednesday). Many of those donations came from high-profile names in New Jersey Democratic circles who attended fundraisers for McIver shortly before the primary.
McIver also spent quite a bit of money during the primary; she’s reported spending $403,000 on her campaign so far in total, and now has just $51,000 on-hand.
That spending, combined with her near-unanimous support from top Democrats, was enough to propel her to an easy primary win, getting 47% of the vote in an eleven-candidate field while her next-closest competitor got just 14%. Since winning the primary, McIver’s fundraising and spending have both slowed down significantly.
Because the special election on September 18 will only determine who fills the remainder of Payne’s current term, McIver and Bucco will face off once again in November for the term beginning in January 2025; McIver was chosen by local Democrats to fill Payne’s vacant spot on the general election ballot after she had won the special primary election.