Republicans are in dire shape in NJ-9 fundraising

If Republicans are planning to make a serious effort at flipping New Jersey’s 9th congressional district this year, they’re not fundraising like it.

The district, currently held by Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), has been on GOP target lists since it unexpectedly voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Pou, though, has built up a 50-to-1 cash advantage over two Republican opponents, who have struggled mightily to catch on among donors.

One of them, Clifton Councilwoman Rosie Pino, has been running since July of 2025 and has raised $337,611 in that time, including $79,826 in the 1st quarter of 2026. She’s also had a very high burn rate, however, and ended the quarter with just $29,164 on-hand – and even that may be overstating her position, since she also reported more than $100,000 in campaign debts.

The other, attorney Tiffany Burress, entered the race in January with backing from a number of prominent party leaders and higher hopes about her ability to put the race on the map. Her fundraising, though, got off to a very slow start; she raised just $74,086 in the last three months and has $33,892 on-hand (plus around $55,000 in debts).

Those are fundraising numbers that would make it difficult for either Pino or Burress to compete with Pou in November, and they’ll still have to spend money against one another to win the nomination at all. County parties in the district are split between the two Republicans, making it hard to tell who has the advantage heading into the June 2 primary.

Pou, by contrast, has no primary opposition and has amassed $1,568,593 for the general election. She’s raised $2,241,129 since the cycle began, including $467,854 in the 1st quarter.

Republicans can point to the 2024 election for the same district as evidence that even poorly funded candidates can still do well, since that year’s GOP nominee, Billy Prempeh, raised less than $50,000 throughout his entire campaign and still came within five points of beating Pou thanks to a huge GOP surge at the top of the ticket.

The district has snapped back towards Democrats since then, however – it voted for Mikie Sherrill by nearly 20 points in last year’s governor’s race – and national forecasters now consider Pou to be the substantial favorite for re-election.