Rutgers law professor challenging Payne raises $5,138

Rutgers Law professor Eugene Mazo has raised $5,138 for his primary challenge to Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-Newark) in New Jersey’s 10th district.

Mazo has $4,181 cash-on-hand.

An election law expert, Mazo edited a book, “The Best Candidate: Presidential Nomination in Polarized Times,” that will be released this year.  He has written two other books on campaign finance.   He is a graduate of Columbia University, has a masters from Harvard, a doctorate in politics from Oxford, and a law degree from Stanford.    He grew up in Newark.

Payne has raised $274,548 for his re-election bid in New Jersey’10th district last year and has $83,323 cash-on-hand.

Payne reported raising $43,289 in the 4th quarter of last year.  He spent $52,487 during the same time period and a total of $248,434 in 2019.

John Flora, a Jersey City public school teacher challenging Payne in the Democratic primary, is struggling to raise money.  He raised $2,172 in the 4th quarter of 2019 and has $8,280 cash-on-hand.

The 10th district, which includes parts of Essex, Hudson and Union counties, is among the most heavily Democratic in the country.

Payne won the 2018 Democratic primary with 92% of the vote against Aaron Fraser.  He won the general election by an 88%-10% margin against Republican Agha Khan.