Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner has been viewed for months as the presumptive frontrunner in this year’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate, but her fundraising numbers from the opening quarter of her campaign likely won’t scare off potential challengers.
Serrano Glassner raised a total of $266,534 between October 1 and December 31 last year – a respectable total, though not a large enough one to immediately kickstart a fully fledged statewide campaign operation. $200,000 of the total, however, came from a personal loan, with only around $66,000 coming from donors; it’s not clear whether Serrano Glassner intends to primarily self-fund her campaign from here on.
A spokesperson for the Serrano Glassner campaign argued that the totals still show momentum for Serrano Glassner’s candidacy.
“Our initial report reflects a very positive response to the candidacy for the U.S. Senate for Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner,” the spokesperson said. “Voters and donors alike are hungry for a commonsense conservative to bring integrity back to this Senate seat and return power to the people.”
But for Serrano Glassner’s two main prospective primary opponents, developer Curtis Bashaw and former News12 reporter Alex Zdan, the fundraising numbers are a sign that it may not be too late to jump into the race after all. Bashaw, who is set to officially launch his campaign next week, will likely be able to self-fund to a significantly greater extent than Serrano Glassner’s $200,000 loan.
That’s to say nothing of the two main Democrats in the Senate race, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and First Lady Tammy Murphy. Kim has raised $2.75 million and Murphy $3.2 million since their respective Senate campaigns began; indicted incumbent Senator Bob Menendez, meanwhile, has $8.5 million in his bank account, though he hasn’t said whether he plans to run for re-election.
Serrano Glassner’s spokesperson said that despite the Democrats’ higher totals, Serrano Glassner is running a smarter campaign.
“The Democrats will try to compare our report to that of the Senate candidates on the Democrat side, but we’ve been focused on running a lean and efficient campaign while assisting GOP candidates statewide in last year’s midterms,” the spokesperson said.
It’s worth noting that while Serrano Glassner launched her campaign a few days before Menendez was hit with federal corruption charges in September, her fundraising report does not list a single donation received during that month. Kim, by contrast, used Menendez’s indictment to fuel a massive $1 million fundraising week at the end of September.
Of the few dozen donors who did contribute to Serrano Glassner last quarter, many of them are from Morris County, Serrano Glassner’s political base and the county where she has gotten by far the most party support so far. (Among the donors was the campaign account of State Senate Minority Leader Anthony M. Bucco, who has not officially endorsed Serrano Glassner’s campaign.)
Serrano Glassner also has an affiliated outside expenditure group, the Gold Bar PAC; the PAC has raised $13,127 as of the end of 2023.