Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), a likely candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey next year, has a significant $1,323,942 cash-on-hand for her re-election campaign in New Jersey’s 11th district this year after raising $487,000 in the first three months of 2024.
The three-term congresswoman has now raised nearly $2.5 million so far this cycle.
She also raised another $27,000 for her leadership PAC, Gateway to Leadership.
Her staff said Sherrill is off to a strong second-quarter fundraising effort, raising more than $100,000 at a single event in Montclair last week that brought new and old donors together.
“I am proud of the work we’ve done here in New Jersey, and I am so grateful for our supporters – both old and new – for trusting me to continue fighting for our start,” Sherrill stated. “Their support is reflective of the enthusiasm for our efforts to protect abortion access, get illegal guns off of our streets, and make New Jersey a more affordable state to live, work, and raise a family.”
Still, Sherrill did not significantly expend her campaign warchest during the first quarter. Her cash-on-hand went up just $33,868.
Sherrill faces a non-competitive challenge in the Democratic primary from Mark DeLotto, a Totowa financial services executive who made the Bergen Record All-County team in 1978 as a lineman for the Passaic Valley High School football team.
Her likely Republican opponent is Joseph Belnome, a building inspector from Belleville and an avid supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Sherrill has been raising money over Belnome’s presence outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, Sherrill’s $1.2 million fundraising haul by the end of 2107 caused the 12-term Republican incumbent, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, to announce his retirement unexpectedly.
Sherrill won her House race by 46,262 votes, 57%-42%, flipping a seat held by Republicans for 34 years. In 2020, she defeated Republican Rosemary Becchi, a former U.S. Senate Finance Committee tax counsel, by 29,150 votes, 53%-47%.
Redistricting in 2022 traded heavily Republican towns in Sussex and Passaic counties for Democratic strongholds in Essex, including Maplewood, Millburn, and South Orange. Joe Biden would have carried the new lines by 17 points – almost as significant as his margin in the less competitive 6th and 9th districts. In 2022, Gov. Phil Murphy, who struggled in the well-off suburbs where Biden did best, won the 11th district by four points.
She faced Paul DeGroot, a former Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor, and defeated him by 51,484 votes, a 19-point victory.