NJ-12 Republican reports just $3,083 in cash, $19,128 in debt

The Republican candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th district has $3,083 cash on hand after raising $3,479 in the second quarter for his bid to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), and is already in debt.

Gregg Mele has raised $79,424 so far this cycle, more than two-thirds of it after loaning $53,746 to his campaign.   On top of his $3,479 haul, Mele put $11,931 into his own campaign in April, May, and June.

He faces Democrat Adam Hamawy, a retired U.S. Army surgeon, who won a hotly contested primary to succeed Watson Colman.

In addition to his loan, Mele has already accumulated a campaign debt of $19,128.

Mele was unopposed in the Republican primary.

The 12th district is a steep, uphill climb for Republicans: Kamala Harris won it by 24 points in 2024, and Mikie Sherrill carried it by 35 points last year.  In her final re-election campaign, Watson Coleman was re-elected by 25 points against Republican Darius Mayfield.

Mele first entered electoral politics in 2018 as an independent candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, receiving 2,296 votes — 164,689 fewer than the winner, Democrat Tom Malinowski. The following year, he ran as the Libertarian nominee for mayor of Bridgewater, again attracting only a small share of the vote.

In 2021, Mele appeared on every New Jersey ballot as the Libertarian nominee for governor, finishing fourth with 0.3% of the statewide vote.

Since then, Mele has run as a Republican, though with little greater success. He failed to qualify for the GOP primary ballot in the 6th congressional district in 2022. Two years later, he launched a U.S. Senate campaign before dropping into the 6th district congressional race, where he lost the Republican primary, 82%-18%, as an off-the-line candidate.

Mele’s campaigns have also shown little geographic consistency. He previously lived in Clark, which is located in neither the 6th nor the 12th congressional districts. His latest campaign filing lists a Plainfield address, placing him within the boundaries of the 12th district.