Rep. Robert J. Menendez (D-Jersey City) began 2024 with $692,549 cash-on-hand after raising a solid $348,068 in the fourth quarter of last year.
The freshman Democrat faces a primary fight against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla in New Jersey’s 8th district. Bhalla said earlier this month that he raised $957,000 in the last three months of 2023 and has brought in more than $1 million since he joined the race in December.
Menendez raised $717,722 in 2023, stepping up his fundraising game in a safe Democratic district after the Justice Department indicted his father, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, in September.
He has secured the endorsements of Democratic county organizations in Hudson and Union counties, seven labor unions, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Menendez has the backing of Union City Mayor/State Sen. Brian P. Stack, Hudson County Executive Craig Guy, and the mayors of Newark, Elizabeth, and all of the Hudson municipalities except Jersey City, where Steve Fulop has said he won’t support Menendez.
An attorney and former Port Authority Commissioner, Menendez was elected to Congress in 2022 to succeed Albio Sires, a Democrat who retired after sixteen years in the House and later reclaimed his old job as mayor of West New York.