Van Drew has $704k banked with possible challengers unable to raise money

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) has $704,058 cash-on-hand after raising $362,067 during the third quarter of 2021.

Van Drew has raised $1,375,271 so far this cycle for his third congressional run next year.

The leading Democratic candidate to take on Alexander, at least so far is civil rights lawyer Tim Alexander, a former detective and prosecutor.  But Alexander’s campaign hasn’t caught on: he raised $76,607 over the last three months and $176,448 total since he joined the race in January.  He has just $53,550 cash-on-hand.

Two other possible Democratic challengers are even more sluggish.

Egg Harbor school board member Hector Tavarez, a retired police captain who announced his candidacy in February, raised $10,398 during the third quarter of this year and has only $7,058 of his $28,692 haul left in his campaign account.

Newcomer Carolyn Rush got in the race in May.  She’s raised $16,585 and has $14,381 cash-in-hand.

Van Drew defeated Democrat Amy Kennedy by 21,677 votes, 52%-46%.  He raised $4,269,281 in 2020, while Kennedy took in $5,048,012.

He was first elected to represent New Jersey’s 2nd district in Congress in 2018 as a Democrat after spending seventeen years in the New Jersey Legislature.

The 2nd district is one of three that Donald Trump carried in 2020 – along with NJ-3, which is represented by a Democrat, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and NJ-4, where Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton) is serving his 20th term.  Trump defeated Joe Biden in NJ-2 by a 51%-48% margin.