New Jersey’s primary elections are now over, which means it’s time to turn attention to the November general election – at least, in races that look like they’ll be competitive.
Going off of second quarter fundraising reports filed this week, which cover the period from April 1 to June 30, only a few of them seem to be real barnburners. Both Republicans and Democrats are raising lots of cash in races for the 7th congressional district and for Senator Bob Menendez’s seat; the open, Democratic-held 3rd district is hosting a quieter race where neither party has huge amounts of money.
Here’s what the fundraising picture looks like in each of New Jersey’s congressional contests.
Scroll to the bottom of this story for a spreadsheet with fundraising data in every race.
U.S. Senate (2024): Yesterday brought big news in the race for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat when Senator Menendez, who has filed to run for re-election as an independent, was convicted on federal bribery charges.
Menendez raised virtually nothing ($46,776, most of which was interest on existing campaign money) in the second quarter, but his $3,311,934 warchest still made him a potentially formidable candidate. His conviction, though, likely wipes away any chance of him being a real spoiler in November if he runs at all, especially since the legal fees from his planned appeal will deplete any remaining campaign resources.
That means that the general election should be primarily between Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and Republican developer Curtis Bashaw – and Kim has a substantial financial edge.
Kim raised $2,024,656 in the second quarter and has $4,063,813 still on-hand, money that would have gone towards a prospective primary against First Lady Tammy Murphy that never came to be. The congressman did still spend $2,165,708 over the course of the quarter, though, as he won the Democratic primary with 75% of the vote against two underfunded foes.
Bashaw, meanwhile, raised $1,549,929 in Q2 – $1.2 million of which came from a personal loan – and heads into the general election with $1,081,282 in the bank.
Unlike Kim, Bashaw had a competitive Republican primary to get through against Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, who had Donald Trump’s endorsement. Bashaw has spent $1,585,802 since launching his campaign, while Serrano Glassner spent just $286,116; he won the primary 45%-38%.
1st district: South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross may be in legal jeopardy, but his brother, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), looks like he’ll coast to re-election in the staunchly blue 1st district seat against a penniless foe.
Norcross, who was uncontested in the June primary, raised $390,217 in Q2 and has $1,833,775 on-hand. His Republican opponent, Teddy Liddell, raised just $2,919 during the same period and has $513 left over after beating two GOP rivals for the nomination.
2nd district: Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), fresh off his speaking slot at the Republican National Convention, has a $1,100,162 warchest after raising $415,586 in the second quarter.
Democrat Joe Salerno, meanwhile, raised $260,189 and has $250,310 on-hand for the general election. Salerno has raised an impressive $1 million so far – much of which was self-funded – but had to use quite a bit of it to get through a highly competitive primary against 2022 nominee Tim Alexander. (Salerno ultimately won 38%-37% after spending close to $800,000.)
3rd district: With Kim headed to the Senate, his seat is hosting a battle between Democratic Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Delran) and Republican physician Rajesh Mohan, neither of whom have a huge amount of money on hand yet for the general election.
Conaway raised $388,775 in Q2 but had to spend a huge amount to get through a competitive primary against Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel) and three others, and ended the quarter with $121,151 on-hand. Mohan raised around half of Conaway’s total – $200,065, $100,000 of which came from self-funding – but spent less on his primary and has a larger warchest of $185,014.
As for the unsuccessful primary candidates, we now know how much each of them spent on their campaigns in total.
On the Democratic side, Murphy spent $180,158, Joe Cohn spent $139,993, Sarah Schoengood spent $61,345, and Brian Schkeeper spent $16,119 – which, combined, is still substantially less than the $627,150 Conaway has spent thus far. For Republicans, Shirley Maia-Cusick outspent Mohan $366,746 to $122,665, but Mohan prevailed anyways thanks to his support from local GOP organizations.
4th district: Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) raised $121,256 in Q2 and has $454,473 on-hand; his Democratic opponent, Matt Jenkins, raised $11,511 and has $15,956 for his campaign in the state’s most safely Republican district.
5th district: Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) remains New Jersey’s most prolific House fundraiser, though there’s an asterisk this time (see the 7th district). Gottheimer raised $1,769,635 in the second quarter – his largest quarter ever – and has a $19,412,670 warchest, more than what every other House candidate in New Jersey has combined.
What does Gottheimer need all that money for? It certainly won’t all be necessary to beat Republican nominee Mary Jo Guinchard, who raised $57,792 – $48,000 of which came from her own pockets – and has $50,483 on-hand. (But perhaps there’s another campaign on the horizon that Gottheimer is thinking about, one for which he could use congressional advertising to boost his name ID.)
6th district: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, continued his quiet streak as one of New Jersey’s best fundraisers in Q2, raising $542,237 and ending with $3,365,199 on-hand. Republican nominee Scott Fegler raised $27,761 in the same period and heads into the general election with $12,491 in the bank.
7th district: It happened again: Democrat Sue Altman outraised Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) for the second quarter in a row in the closely watched 7th district.
Altman raised $1,674,562 during Q2, a truly astronomical amount for a first-time candidate; she raised more from donors than any other House candidate in the state (Gottheimer’s total is slightly higher because of interest on existing cash). Without a primary to worry about, Altman was able to stockpile most of her money, and has a warchest of $2,223,330.
Kean, for his part, raised $946,818 in Q2 – still a huge sum – and has a towering $3,005,363 on-hand. Whatever else happens this fall, it’s clear that the race for the 7th district is going to be a ridiculously expensive one.
8th district: Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) has already gotten through his toughest battle of 2024: his Democratic primary contest against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. And it took a lot of money to do it.
Menendez has spent a total of $1,999,953 so far this cycle, while Bhalla spent $2,185,536 – virtually unheard-of sums for a New Jersey House primary. (Menendez ultimately won 52%-37%.) Heading into the general election, Menendez has $404,973 on-hand after raising $654,232 in Q2; absolutely none of that will be needed to defeat Republican Anthony Valdes, who has not filed any fundraising reports for his campaign in the overwhelmingly Democratic district.
9th district: Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), who easily beat back a primary challenge from Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah in June, raised $368,516 in Q2 and has $1,146,905 on hand. His Republican opponent, Billy Prempeh, has been running an energetic campaign but has almost no money to back him up, raising $6,873 and ending the quarter with $2,127.
(Khairullah ended up being a strong fundraiser for a primary challenger, raising $391,750 over the course of his campaign, but that didn’t save him from a 76%-24% blowout against Pascrell.)
10th district: The safely Democratic 10th district is in limbo right now. Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver won a special Democratic primary to succeed the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) last night, but she won’t be able to take office until the September special general election; McIver is also the heavy favorite at a special convention tomorrow evening to replace Payne on the regularly scheduled general election ballot.
Regardless, McIver raised $145,244 in Q2 – substantially more than any of her now-vanquished opponents – and had $64,892 left on-hand, though those numbers have surely changed in the two weeks of campaigning that have happened since the end of the quarter. Republican Carmen Bucco, who stands no chance of defeating McIver, raised $10,641 and has $9,559 in the bank.
11th district: Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), who like Gottheimer could enter the race for governor next year, raised a massive $778,353 in the second quarter and has a warchest of $1,683,659.
Republican nominee Joe Belnome trailed far behind, though he still amassed much more than most of his fellow Republicans in other strongly Democratic districts; he raised $147,054, $100,000 of which was self-funded, and has $173,723 on-hand.
12th district: After walloping former Princeton school board member Daniel Dart in the Democratic primary, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing)’s general election rematch against Republican Darius Mayfield isn’t set to be competitive; Watson Coleman raised $115,673 in Q2 and has $189,021 on-hand, while Mayfield raised $13,526 and has $10,279.
U.S. Senate (2026): Senator Cory Booker, who won’t be up for re-election until 2026, raised $842,818 in the second quarter and has built up a colossal $11,484,830 warchest for whatever campaigns may await him in the future. (No one else has yet filed a campaign with the FEC for the 2026 race.)
Q2 2024 fundraising