Pou raises another $460k, now has $1.5 million on-hand

Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), increasingly the favorite to win re-election in her Trump-won congressional district, raised another $460,000 in the 1st quarter of 2026, her campaign announced today.

Pou has raised more than $2.2 million for her re-election campaign overall, making her one of the state’s best fundraisers this cycle and likely putting her far ahead of her Republican foes. With seven months to go until the general election, Pou has $1.5 million on-hand.

“Congresswoman Nellie Pou is a fighter through and through, and she has consistently shown she is willing to put in the work to deliver for her constituents,” Pou’s campaign manager, Morghan Cyr, said in a statement. “This impressive fundraising momentum, combined with a growing list of major endorsements, reflect the strength of the Congresswoman’s campaign and overwhelming support behind her record of delivering for her constituents.”

Just yesterday, Pou got a boost from the Cook Political Report, which upgraded her district from Lean to Likely Democrat. Pou has positioned herself well to win a second term, CPR wrote, while Republicans remain conflicted about who will be facing her.

The two GOP candidates for the district, Clifton Councilwoman Rosie Pino and attorney Tiffany Burress, have each won some local party support and have a real shot at winning the nomination. Neither has released their most recent fundraising report yet; Pino raised a middling $258,000 between July and December of 2025, and Burress entered the race after the last fundraising deadline.

Pou, for her part, doesn’t have any primary foes; Paterson Mayor André Sayegh turned heads last year when he said he was considering challenging her, but he decided to run for re-election instead, and no other Democrat stepped up before last month’s filing deadline.

The 9th district unexpectedly voted for Donald Trump in 2024, putting what had previously been a safely Democratic seat on Republican target lists. Since then, though, the plurality-Hispanic district has seemingly snapped back to Democrats, voting for Mikie Sherrill by nearly 20 percentage points last year.