Operatives with ties to Christie open Hugin super PAC

Republican operatives with ties to former Gov. Chris Christie have formed a super PAC to back U.S. Senate Candidate Bob Hugin.

The PAC, Integrity NJ, is headed by Phil Cox and Pete Sheridan, both of whom have close ties to Christie.

Cox, the group’s chairman and senior advisor, was executive director of the Republican Governors Association when Christie was chairman of the group. He also headed America Leads, a super PAC founded to back Christie’s 2016 presidential run.

Sheridan, formerly the executive director of the New Jersey GOP, worked on both of Christie’s gubernatorial campaigns and served on Christie’s transition out of the governorship. Sheridan is the PAC’s executive director.

With more than $2.1 million raised, the PAC already has a sizeable pool of resources to pull on to push its messaging against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, which appears as though it will focus on the senator’s recent ethics troubles, a favorite attack vector of the Hugin campaign.

“New Jerseyans deserve a Senator who will fight for their interests in Washington, DC, not jet-setting on private planes all over the globe or fighting corruption charges in federal courtrooms,” Sheridan said in a statement. “Integrity NJ plans to shine a bright light on shamelessly corrupt Bob Menendez. New Jersey deserves better.”

According to FEC data, the PAC has yet to start spending in earnest as of the end of June, but it went into July with a little less than $2 million, about half of which it raised in the second quarter of 2018.