Republican House challenger Frank Pallotta raised a little more than $1.2 million in the third quarter, with the bulk of those funds coming from a $1 million loan the former investment banker made to his campaign.
The new loan brings Pallotta’s personal financial investment in his bid to oust Rep. Josh Gottheimer to more than $1.4 million, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
His own money aside, the challenger’s campaign brought in $224,722.16 in the third quarter, including a $27,181.35 transfer from his primary account.
He spent $617,374.54 in the quarter and had $694,528.78 banked moving into the final month of the race.
Pallotta is running to oust Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff). The incumbent’s third-quarter filings are not yet available, but he likely still holds a sizeable cash advantage. At the end of June, the congressman had more than $8.8 million in his war chest.
Gottheimer ousted seven-term incumbent Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in 2016 after the conservative congressman came under fire for refusing to financially support the National Republican Congressional Committee because it had actively recruited gay candidates.
Now, Republicans are trying to win back a district they held for more than 70 years before Gottheimer’s 2016 victory.
The above fundraising totals do not include independent expenditures made for or against either candidate, nor do they include spending by candidates’ political action committees.
The district has 17,269 more Democrats than Republicans. When Gottheimer first won the seat in 2016, Republicans had a 2,370-voter registration edge.